Gunsmoke Sun
by Beckon
Summary: Everything was happening all at once, and if Nora didn't do something, if she didn't make the right choice, then a lot more people would die. Things that she had been around to help bring back up would be torn back down- and it would all come down on her head. It didn't feel fair. But she couldn't keep dipping her hands in the blood of the people around her. [Minutemen Ending]
1. The Castle

The air was heavy from the storm rolling in on the horizon.

And thick with smoke and wasted gunpowder.

The smell of burning metal and circuitry scorched her nostrils as Nora tried not to focus on the absolute massacre of the synthetic bodies that laid in pieces at her feet. She tried to ignore the heat of the overworked, and bullet-dry turret nearby that still attempted to rapid fire- attempting to empty out its' already emptied stock. She even tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her chest as she watched yet another one of her men strip off his jacket and gently place it on top of a fallen friend- trying to choke back tears as he did so.

...

Nora just tried to stay focused on the wounded woman who leaned heavily against her for support; the woman whose legs half-walked, and half-dragged with every step as they stumbled across the courtyard together.

The woman whose warm blood was soaking in through the side of her heavy coat, discoloring the royal blue material.

Nora whispered words of encouragement over the rolling thunder in the distance- saying what she needed to so she didn't focus on the pained noises that came in with the storm.

Ducking through one of the Castle's many stone doorways, Nora used every ounce of strength she could muster to get the two of them through the crowded passageways. She held her breath as different Minutemen rushed back and forth through the narrow hallways- trying to transport supplies from one end of the Castle to the next in the shortest amount of time possible.

It was difficult to not risk getting knocked down by their frantic, justified, running, so Nora tried to hug the wall to stay out of their way and minimize the chances of a collision. Most of them darted to the side as soon as they saw her though- attempting to clear a path for her.

Every now and again, she'd catch a glimpse of Preston in the crowd, either helping to bring the wounded inside, or getting the supplies moved around from room to room. His duster was stained pretty liberally with blood, no doubt from the people he had been pulling in from outside. She wished she could spare just a few seconds to speak with him, to make sure he was alright, but... they both had their hands full.

... She had to admire everyone's tenacity in the aftermath of what had been two hours of hell.

She had to admire everyone's dedication to their fellow man; they were doing everything they could to help the wounded, to make certain that they would live to see the next day.

...

It made her proud- proud to wear the heavy, blue coat that had been passed down from General to General.

The same one that now felt like lead weights on her shoulders.

Nora gave a sigh of relief as she finally found an empty bed amongst the chaos- an empty room as well; although she didn't foresee it being long before they had company, before they had a neighbor in the second bed. She guided the woman over to it and gently helped her down onto the partial stained mattress. Her body ran cold at the pained cry that escaped the young soldier- watching as she clutched at her still bleeding side.

If she recalled correctly, through her battle-burned memories, the woman's name was Molly.

"Sorry," Nora whispered, as she eased herself onto the edge of the mattress, and brushed the woman's damp bangs from her face. Her skin was hot to the touch, and covered in a layer of sweat and dirt; she was both flushed with heat and pale from blood loss.

Nora could feel her own hands trembling as she watched the woman take in hard breaths that jerked uncomfortably at her chest; as she watched as the mattress beneath the wounded soldier became more and more stained with blood.

... She couldn't lose another soldier- _please_.

"I... I'll be alright, General," the woman, Molly, assured; her voice breathless and raspy. Her good hand was covering her left side, which harbored a thick, burnt wound that covered the missing chunk of her skin; she had matching injuries on her left shoulder and hip as well. The smell of burning flesh was overpowering, and overwhelming in the narrow corridors; it could be smelt all throughout the Castle, which made Nora's stomach twist and churn inside of her with every breath. "W-we... we won't, didn't we?"

Nora offered the best smile she could force out as she moved to take the woman by the limp hand that remained at her butchered side. "You bet your ass we did," she nodded, trying to sound and smile triumphantly; although it came out flatter than she had hoped. "The Institute is going to have to think twice before tangling with the Minutemen again. Hell, I bet we even destroyed all of their spare units."

The woman gave a faint laugh- despite the pain it put her in by doing so. "It sure as hell felt like we did, General."

"The Commonwealth will remember this," Nora replied, as she brushed her thumb over the woman's knuckles.

"Praise the Minutemen."

She nodded once more, and forced out a quiet chuckle of her own as she watched the woman's eyes slowly fall close in front of her. "That's right..." Nora whispered, hearing her own voice crack under the pressure, "praise the Minutemen."

"... Excuse me, General?"

Nora slowly looked up at the call and took note of a second Minuteman standing nearby; he wore a white ribbon around his arm, which she recognized immediately. "Right," she sighed, more so to herself, before she pushed up to her feet. She squeezed the woman's hand and offered another smile. "You've made the Commonwealth, and me, proud tonight. Don't ever forget that," she spoke, feeling the woman squeeze her hand in return, before Nora gently let go of it.

Moving away from the bed, Nora watched as the medic drew up a chair to begin work on the wounded woman, before she quickly stepped out.

...

She felt a hard chill run over her entire body as she listened to the faint sounds of pained groans and screams that echoed around in the stone corridors. There were far too many wounded to count, and they were stretched pretty thin when it came to having enough medics to go around.

Nora knew everyone was just trying to do their best, doing what they could to make the wounded comfortable... and she could only pray that it was enough.

At the very least, she was thankful that she had stored any and all of the Minutemen's extra supplies at the Castle. It made it a little difficult for some of their units, especially since they had to go off their usual patrol routes to get here, but... this was their biggest, and most secure location. It only made sense. Not to mention, with all the work she put in convincing the caravan traders to come this way as well, she might as well keep it consistently stocked.

With consistent caravans, and consistent trading, it helped them keep a steady flow of supplies going in and out of Fort Independence.

Which... should help them greatly in this kind of emergency.

For now, they should have an abundance of medical supplies to keep everyone alive, but... she wasn't so certain the supplies would last if they were to suffer a second ambush on the Castle.

Nora tried to distract herself from those kinds of thoughts as she made her way through each of the crowded rooms; she offered what assistance she could, and tended to the wounded who had yet to be looked at. She tried to keep them entertained, or at least distracted enough to be able to ignore the pain- even if by the smallest of amounts. She spared a few stories about the pre-war era, about her time in law school and that idiot she once punched out in a bar- winning the affections of her future husband.

...

But most of all, she told the wounded, and those around them, what they needed to hear.

They needed to hear that she was proud of them- and that they had made her proud of how they had all come together to successfully fight off the Institute. They made her proud by proving that banding together could produce the most impossible of results. They made her proud by standing up against evil and doing so to protect those who couldn't protect themselves.

She promised them that she would make a speech when she could- and when the time was right. And she would tell everyone in the Commonwealth about the miracle that they had pulled off today.

She would tell everyone about those who didn't make it, about those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of the Commonwealth. She would ensure that they would not be forgotten, and that they would all get the hero's burial that they deserved.

...

And it was difficult to not break down when she spoke to them.

Difficult not to break down into uncontrollable sobs when she thought about the men and women who didn't survive the siege.

When she thought about their wounded, but alive, companions who sobbed and cried out their names as they laid in pools of their own blood.

...

When she had made all the rounds that she could, speaking to everyone that she could... Nora allowed herself to step outside.

The cold air felt like it was cutting her skin as the stiff breeze whipped and battered the ragged flags that flew overhead.

Nora walked around the utter mess of blown apart Institute Synths and found herself a quiet corner to disappear into- a quiet corner to let out the horrid, wracking sobs that had been piling and tearing away at her chest.

Fingers dug hard into the crumbling concrete bricks before she began pounding her fists against the merciless stone.

She barely even felt the sharp edges of the stone cutting into the soft, outer side of her hands. She was hitting the wall as hard as she could- feeling each hit send painful vibrations through her aching bones.

It hurt, that much she could feel, and yet she couldn't stop.

Everything that had happened here, the massacre of both Institute Synths and her own Minutemen, the further destruction of the Castle, the cries of the wounded coming from inside...

All of that blood was on her hands.

Nora wanted to scream through each choking sob, but she was struggling enough to keep her outburst quiet- she didn't need someone coming by and seeing her like this. She didn't need someone looking to her for strength and support, only to find her in such a depleted state.

She couldn't bear for someone to see her as weak as she felt.

"So is this it then? Is this where you cut yourself loose and run?"

Nora drew in a hard breath at the voice, before she reluctantly pushed herself away from the wall. Her eyes were locked onto the concrete block in front of her, noticing the barely visible spots of blood on it.

She couldn't even bring herself to look at the older woman- not like this.

"Just when I was startin' to like you too."

"Ronnie, it's... it's not like that," Nora started, her own voice hoarse now.

The older woman gave her a shrug as she lifted the lighter to the cigarette that was balancing between her lips. "Well, could've been worse, I suppose. You could've ran like a coward, or maybe holed yourself up like General Becker did- the poor bastard, bless his soul." Ronnie took a brief drag from her cigarette, before she looked back to the wasted courtyard behind them. Despite the ambush they had just survived, the woman seemed hardly phased by any of it; it made Nora wonder just what exactly had Ronnie lived through before she had arrived. "But instead, you're here, crying like a damn fool in the corner."

The woman's words stung, but... she knew Ronnie meant well.

Or at least, Nora hoped she did.

"... This is all my fault."

Ronnie gave a sort of grunt as she picked the cigarette from her lips. "So, now you've gone stir crazy, have ya?"

"You're not... you're not listening to me," Nora muttered, as she pressed her forehead against the wall, as though trying to bury herself within the hollow concrete bricks. "This is my fault because I- I made enemies with the Institute. I built a machine to get there, and it actually worked, and I... I was there, inside of the heart of the Commonwealth boogeyman. And I..." her voice faded as she recalled the scene over and over again in her head. "I found my son- the real one, not the replica I've been chasing after. My beautiful son, Shaun... he's the Head of the Institute; he calls himself Father. And when I got there, when I met him, he- he asked me to join the Institute with him- so we could finally try to be a family again. But I told him no, not after the atrocities I had seen them commit- not after witnessing the fear his organization put into the people of the Commonwealth. So... he told me that I was forbidden to stay, and forbidden from ever coming back."

Nora didn't know why she was spilling all of this out to Ronnie- God knows she should've just kept it all to herself.

But the words just kept coming, and she couldn't stop them.

"He called me a hostile," Nora spat, hearing her voice trembling now. "He... he sent these Synths here because of me, because of what I told him. And now... now fifteen of my men are dead, countless others wounded, and the Castle is beyond repair. I refused to join the Institute to spite him, and he turned around and destroyed what little I had created in this world."

There were hot tears rolling down her cheeks now, before she struck the concrete wall just one more time- reminding herself of the pain in her abused bones and hands.

"That's a heavy story you're carrying with you, General."

Nora hastily nodded at the remark, before she straightened herself up once again- taking a hard gasp for air as she did so. "I- I got so caught up in my own problems, in my own search... I only thought about myself in that moment. The signs were there, and yet I just wanted to believe that my son... that my son was alive. I was so selfish- I should've known that he would retaliate, that it would come down to something like this. And instead of stopping it, I let it happen." she moved one hand to rub at her eyes, before she ran it down her face- feeling the wet tears on her cheeks. "All of the blood here is on my hands."

Ronnie said nothing at first, and only stared at her through the smoke of her cigarette.

She drew the joint from her lips a few times over, before she briefly pointed it at Nora.

"If your face wasn't hurting as bad as it looks, I'd offer to slap the shit out you," Ronnie finally spoke. "Well, not offer- I'd just do it on my own accord. I'll be frank with you, General, I didn't believe you were cut out for this job. I thought you were just some other hopeless idiot trying to make a quick name for yourself before realizing all the work that needed to be done. I figured you'd run off by the third week. But instead, I got you hunting down caravan and getting traders to go off-road just to get here- coming right up to the front door of the Castle. I got you grabbing all sorts of useless shit and making things out of them- _useful_ things, God forbid. I got you running through the Commonwealth in the dead of night trying to hunt down some poor sucker who got in the wrong way with some Raiders. I got you being the star headline in the newspaper- the same papers that the new recruits show up holding, asking if they can join and stand with you."

"Where are you going with this, Ronnie?" Nora whispered, as she rubbed at her cheeks once more, before she wiped her wet eyes off on her coat sleeve.

The woman puffed at her cigarette before she dropped it and snuffed it out with her boot. "I hate to admit it, but you're one of the greatest things to come to the Minutemen this year. You pulled us back together and gave everyone hope again. Everyone's been infatuated with your journey from day one... Everyone's rooting for you, General, through blood and rain. And when you got that kind of good shit going for you, you don't exactly want to just drop it off because there's a hairline of a chance that someone like you did something wrong."

Nora felt a chill run through her at the words, before she turned to look at the woman.

Her vision was a little blurry, but she could see that Ronnie's stiff expression had yet to budge.

"This ' _Father_ ' guy you're talking about, he got his panties all in a bunch because you said no- and then he tried to punish you for it. That ain't on you, General; that's on that immature piece of shit."

... The words felt like a punch to the gut.

But not in the way she had imagined.

"I... that means a lot coming from you," Nora started- although she fully understood that Ronnie had just called her son a piece of shit. But it wasn't... unwarranted. And at this point, could she... could she even call Shaun her son anymore? He was nothing like the man she thought he'd grow up to be; he was nothing like Nate, or her. Besides him being her biological son, there was... there was nothing they shared.

"It should," Ronnie nodded, "now then, what's our next plan of attack here? We can't let that stir-crazy Institute get away with this."

Nora stood there for a moment, studying Ronnie's face and memorizing her words as she ran them through her head over and over again. She couldn't... no, she wouldn't risk letting someone get away with this- to get away with murder and open acts of terror. No matter who they were, or who they ended up not being. She was done being pushed around. "We're going to make them pay for the damages they've caused."

For a split moment, there almost seemed to be a smug grin on Ronnie's face. "Now that's the General I know-"

"CHARMER!"

Nora's head snapped up at the combined voices that called for her, and she looked past Ronnie to see two figures running through the front doors of the Castle; they slightly lost their footing as they ran over the crumbling foundation. Her body went stiff as she recognized the two immediately, and watched as Deacon and Glory slowed down once they hit the ruined courtyard- eventually stopping altogether.

... And it was hard to watch as they both looked around at the massacre that laid at their feet.

It was hard to watch as the look of realization hit them.

This wasn't a new scene to them; this was something that they had personally witnessed over and over again.

Glory clenched her fists, but did little else.

Meanwhile, Deacon put his hands to his knees as he leaned forward- looking as though he was about to be sick.

"Who in tarnation is Charmer?" Ronnie muttered, as she turned to look back at them. "And who the hell are these two rag stags?"

"Let me handle them," Nora offered, as she put her hand on Ronnie's shoulder before she stepped around the woman. Her mind was absolutely racing as she hurried towards the two of them. She knew Deacon was a wanderer, but she didn't think Glory ventured out anywhere but to the Railroad safehouses. Then again, she didn't know either of them to come onto Minutemen property either- the Castle was well out of both of their paths.

Nor did she know them to just... shout out her codename like that.

...

She couldn't imagine how she might've looked to them.

Her General's uniform was scorched from the Institute laser weapons, and stained with patches of blood from the wounded- as well as her own blood in some areas. Her hands were cut up and bloodied on the outer sides from her emotional outburst earlier, but those were easy to hide in the cuffs of her sleeves.

It didn't help that her eyes and cheeks were still raw, and that her body was trembling all over.

"Look at this place..." Glory whispered, as her eyes slowly looked over the mayhem surrounding them.

"Oh God, I got the Switchboard fever coming on," Deacon mildly groaned as he actively seemed to be trying not to throw up. He brushed his hands against the sides of his head before he straightened up at the sound of her footsteps. And despite the sunglasses he was always wearing, Nora could see the heavy concern that was stretched across his face. "Charmer, look, Christ, we didn't..." for once, just once, he seemed utterly speechless- or maybe just clueless on what to lie about.

"It's over," Nora spoke, forcing herself to sound steadier than she felt. "We move on."

It sounded like the right thing to say...

Or at least something Desdemona would say- and if anyone had experience with something like this...

"I'm sorry," Glory started.

"Don't be," Nora assured, "I know you two have experienced this plenty of times before..." the words cut into her like knives, but she told herself that she needed to be strong again. If for anyone here, she had to be strong for herself. "What are you two doing here? You've never come out this far into the Commonwealth- at least not to my knowledge."

"We just got intel from the Patriot," Deacon answered first, looking a little more... alive now. "The Institute is planning on several open attacks across the Commonwealth- most of them being on our safehouses. We think we can divert the main forces before they do any major damages to what we got, but... we're still gonna end up writing off the loss of one or two safehouses- if we're lucky. We're not sure if we can even keep the Old church safe at this point- and that's our only remaining back-up."

Nora drew in a sharp breath at the words, and wondered if this had more to do with her rejection towards Father.

But... had he known about her involvement with the Railroad?

And would he... would he really go this far?

"They're planning an attack on Diamond City."

Deacon's words rang empty for a few seconds as Nora still struggled to comprehend the first half of information. But it didn't take long before the statement sank in, and she felt her stomach go along with it.

"What?" Nora breathed. She could understand the Railroad safehouses and even... even the Castle, but what did the city do to deserve such a disastrous threat? "Why the hell would they attack Diamond City? What for?" she pressed.

"It's a statement," Glory answered; her face and voice stiff when she spoke. "Diamond City is terrified of Synths and the Institute, but they're the great Green Jewel- everyone knows about the city. And the Institute wants to send a message to the Commonwealth; they want to tell everyone that they do exist, and that they're coming- and they're not afraid to do what they have to in order to conquer the surface world.

...

Nora stood there in cold silence- barely feeling the first drops of rain on her face.

... All those innocent people.

Diamond City wasn't equipped to handle themselves against a Synth invasion- no matter how loudly they boasted about it. No Synths were allowed inside, but... it wasn't like there was anything physically stopping them from entering.

Hell, she had taken Glory to the city one or twice before, and no one suspected a damn thing.

Except Myrna, but even then, the woman couldn't prove anything.

"We got our hands tied, and... well, the Minutemen protected Diamond City once before," Deacon finished.

...

The words hit her like a trailer of bricks.

Nora finally understood why they came here- not only to warn her, but... to ask for help.

Help she wasn't sure she could spare.

"We... we were just ambushed ourselves not even two hours ago," Nora started, hearing her voice tremble as she slowly looked at the sheet-covered bodies that had been lined up against part of the Castle wall; they were waiting to be buried as soon as the night was over and the rain had stopped- and they had people to dig the graves. She felt her throat get tight at the sight, and felt her stomach sink as the memories all came flooding back to her. "I lost fifteen good men and women to the Institute tonight- we barely even got the volunteers we needed to hold the Castle. I can't... I don't know if we'll have enough people to protect Diamond City. I don't even know if we'll get there in time to intercept the attack, or if we'll even get lucky like this again."

"I know, believe me... I can see it," Deacon replied; his voice oddly soothing and calm. "But you're the only person we can turn to right now- and Hell, we're pretty desperate in needing you to help with the safehouses."

"I told you I can handle them- I've got the safehouses covered," Glory assured- her voice more like a soft bite, before she turned back to Nora. "If there was another way around this, we'd be there in a heartbeat... but we can't split ourselves any thinner than we already have. We're not equipped to handle a full-scale attack, and I'm not even sure if Dez or Carrington would want us out in the open like that. Right now, our only option is to buckle down and hope we can survive. If we experience another Switchboard, it's over for us; it's over for the Railroad."

...

Nora felt her eyes beginning to burn all over again.

It felt childish and foolish, especially after the outburst she had just had, but... she could feel the hot tears welling up again. Everything was happening all at once, and if she didn't do something, if she didn't make the right choice, then a lot more people would die. Things that she had been around to help bring back up would be torn back down- and it would all come down on her head.

It didn't feel fair...

But she couldn't keep dipping her hands in the blood of the people around her.

"We'll do it."

The words left her before she even settled her mind on anything concrete.

But she couldn't risk losing Desdemona, Glory, or Deacon- or even Carrington or Tinker Tom for that matter. They were too important to her- she wouldn't be where she was now if it weren't for them.

And she couldn't risk losing Diamond City either... not with all those people living in fear there- unknowing and unprepared for an Institute ambush.

"The Minutemen will be at Diamond City as soon as we can regroup," Nora continued, steadying herself out once more. "I promised that I would protect the Commonwealth, and I will- no matter what the Institute tries to throw at us." her words sounded confident, and that had to count for something. She turned back behind her, scanning the courtyard for Ronnie, only to find her missing now. "Ronnie!"

It took a moment or two before the older woman stepped back out of the Castle- another lit cigarette on her lips.

"You need something, General?" Ronnie questioned, as though she hadn't been eavesdropping on the entire conversation when she could.

"I'm going to need some messages sent out," Nora started. "We're going to need additional men to protect Diamond City- call for as many arms as we can get. I don't want to use the broadcast- the Institute could be listening in on us, and that's the last thing we need right now. I don't know how much time we have for this, but... we should expect the smallest time line possible; this has to be done now."

Ronnie shot a look at her, and then moved to Deacon and Glory before she nodded. "... You got it, General."

Good... that was one less thing to worry about- for now.

Nora turned back to the two Railroad agents, and offered what best she could of a bullshit smile. "The Minutemen have this covered, so just worry about yourselves for now."

"You're really committed to this thankless job, aren't you?" Deacon spoke, offering a brief chuckle with his words. "The Minutemen are lucky to have you."

"Everyone is- yourself included, Deacon," Glory replied, as she elbowed the man in the ribs. "Listen Charmer, we gotta head out again. We're hitting up every safehouse we can get to before the Institute strikes. You keep yourself, and your men, safe, and we'll try to keep in touch if we hear anything else. Not sure if there's much on the clock for us, but we'll make due with what we got."

"Thanks again for the heads up," Nora nodded, "you two stay safe as well- and I better see you again when this is all over."

"I have confidence that you will," Glory assured, as she clapped her on the shoulder, before giving it a hard squeeze. "Now then, we gotta run if we want to make it to Mercer before dawn- and I don't want to get stuck carrying Deacon again."

"That was _one_ time."

Nora watched, with a half-heavy heart, as the two of them turned and made their way out of the Castle- hurrying down along the dirt path just outside. She smiled briefly as Deacon gave a ceremonial tap on the arch of the doorway on his way out; she assumed it was his blessing to the Minutemen.

...

She remained where she was standing for a few minutes too long- taking in the striking chill in the air now, as well as the more prominent drops of rain on her coat. The rolling thunder on the horizon had moved on top of them now, while bolts of lightning took its place in the distance.

She hoped Deacon and Glory would stay safe in the storm.

"You gonna head inside, or do you prefer to keep your feet wet?"

Nora snapped back up at the question, before she felt Ronnie's tight hand on her shoulder. "Y-yeah, let's head inside and wait the storm out," she briefly muttered, before she turned and followed the woman into the nearest entrance.

The first thing she noticed was the striking silence inside of the Castle now- a heavy contrast from the commotion that had driven her out before. It left her feeling worried at first, afraid that they had lost even more while she was outside talking. But none of the beds that she could see had a white sheet pulled over them; instead, there was just someone sleeping rather peacefully in it. No doubt all of the wounded were asleep by now- or rather, more accurately, were unconscious from the use of Med-X to numb their pain. And those few who might've still been awake were in a semi-sedated state from the drug's usage.

Even their small team of medics were already dozing off- falling asleep in any available chair, although some of them seemed to prefer the floor. No doubt it would be a long night for them.

... It would a long night for everyone.

"Back to business, if we're not going to use the broadcast, then how do you want these messages sent out?" Ronnie pressed, as she fumbled to get some loose papers pulled out from her jacket; no doubt they had been taken from the broadcasting table outside just before the rain kicked in. "We don't exactly have any runners available- unless we can spare one of the doctors-"

"No, no, I... I want every medic we have on staff to stay here," Nora interrupted; her mind was racing as she tried to figure out an answer for Ronnie. "I... we could use Dogmeat; I know he's somewhere around here- I think he was with Preston last time I saw him. We could attach a message to his collar and send him out. And once we get in contact with one settlement, we could have them call on the others using their ham radios. They shouldn't create a large enough frequency for the Institute to pick up on, and it won't create a panic either; I'll ask Preston about it while you're getting the messages written down- he knows more about radios than I do. I'm not sure how much time we have, so let's just try to hit up our closest settlements. I think our best bets are going to be Hangman's Alley, Jamaica Plains, Oberland Station, and maybe even Phyllis at the Marina Tour if I'm lucky-"

"Why don't you slow it down a notch, General, and take a breath," Ronnie interrupted. "You're fixin' to pass yourself out with all that talking. I'll write your little message out, and make another call to arms. Why don't you go talk to that Lieutenant of yours and get off your feet for a bit? He's bound to be asking where you are anyways."

...

Right.

She really could go for talking to Preston right now.

Actually, it was a little odd that he wasn't with her already. He normally always found her first if they ever got separated during a battle; often times she wasn't even fully aware that they had gotten separated before he found her again. But this time, he never showed up for her. And she just figured that... after her own personal breakdown, he would've just... somehow known where to find her. Where to comfort her.

Nora marked it up as him being focused on the wounded though; she had caught glimpses of him helping them into the Castle, and even helping the medics when he could. Which was just like him, always helping other people.

Still...

"Do you know where he is?" Nora questioned.

"Not specifically, but I'm sure he's around here somewhere," Ronnie answered. "Couldn't have gotten too far with that hole in his chest."

...

Nora felt her entire body clench up at the words, and she guessed the expression on her face said it all, considering that even Ronnie looked at her with the smallest hint of surprise.

"You didn't know?"

"Know what? What happened?" Nora pressed- desperately trying to keep her voice low to keep it from waking up any of the sleeping patients nearby.

Ronnie took a few more puffs of her cigarette before she snuffed it out on the stone wall nearby. "He's fine- well, he's alive, which is the important part. He caught a nasty shot from a Courser when the two went head-to-head. Damn thing teleported out of nowhere while we were trying to get some of the wounded moved inside. He barely managed to down the thing before it could actually get in, but he took a hit to the chest for his effort. I guess it wasn't bothering him as badly as it looked, considering he's been getting people moved around, but... wouldn't be damned surprised if it finally knocked him out. That boy should really learn his limits."

"He- what?" Nora sputtered; the words not quite forming as they came out of her.

When she saw Preston before, with all the blood on his jacket... she had assumed it was someone else's.

She had hoped that it was anyone's but his.

"Go on then," Ronnie urged, "I got letters to write, and you got questions to ask."

Nora left the woman behind her as she immediately began searching the Castle- fighting the urge to run in the narrow corridors. As desperate as she was to find Preston, she sure as hell wasn't going to disturb any of the slumbering wounded. Especially considering that they were only asleep because of the drugs in their systems; it was the only way to sleep after the hell they had just gone through.

She went room to room- using her search to also check up on the wounded and the medics, who occasionally had to be stepped over in order to pass.

It felt like her heart got quicker every time she passed a room and didn't see him in it.

...

It was only when she reached the General's Quarters did she realize she had wasted her time looking for him elsewhere.

Nora quietly pushed the bullet-riddled door aside and stepped in- giving off a quiet sigh of relief as she spotted Preston passed out on the couch at the back of the room. It wasn't exactly Ronnie-approved decor, but it was in fairly good shape and mostly intact- not to mention it was in the one of the abandoned buildings just outside of the Castle; it was hard to say no to.

She had to bite back a quiet laugh as she noticed Dogmeat sleeping on the couch with him- well, laying mostly on top of him. It was a given, if Dogmeat wasn't with her, then he was stuck to Preston; sometimes it was just until she came back, and other times, she couldn't get the damn canine to even look at her.

And despite there being plenty of beds still, she figured he must've gotten patched up and decided to lie down in here instead; more than likely, he figured he wouldn't stay down for long- although that thought obviously didn't last.

As for Dogmeat... well, whenever someone, anyone really, was on the couch, he was there too. So Preston must've lied down first to get his bearings, and didn't have the heart to turn Dogmeat away; he never did.

Quietly walking into the room, Nora took note that Preston's duster, vest and scarf had been piled onto the desk nearby- all three articles were stained with blood. It left a churning feeling in her stomach at the sight, and made the next few steps a little heavier to take. He was still dressed in a white undershirt, which had the front portion of it pulled open- revealing the bandages that had been padded heavily against his injury. There were some bloodstains on the bandages themselves, which she tried not to worry about since the stains were small.

But... judging from the blood spots alone, the wound was bigger that what she had thought- bigger than what she had been hoping for.

Coursers aimed to kill.

But the fact that he was still alive and breathing meant that the shot hadn't been fatal.

Which was good enough news on its own.

...

Dogmeat didn't even perk up as Nora approached the two of them; more than likely, he recognized her footsteps and didn't bother to lift his head at them. Again, sometimes he liked to ignore her from time to time, all in good sport.

Nora watched the slow, and steady way Preston breathed as he slept, at least taking in the comfort that he didn't seem to be in any pain. She had to bite back another snort though upon noticing that, despite injury and all, he still kept his hat, and had angled it down slightly over his face. It was a habit of his whenever he slept- one she teased him about, and one he continued to do despite her teasing.

... He would be out for the rest of the night no doubt- especially considering that he hadn't woken up at her footsteps either. And she couldn't blame him.

Still... if there was one person she wanted to talk to more than anything right now, it was him.

Preston was always good at listening, always good at offering advice for what he knew... even if it didn't have much to do with the situation. She just... she wanted him to tell her that things would be okay, and that she had made the right choice. She knew that she did, it was the only right choice available, but hearing him agree with her would help.

As desperate as she might've felt though, she didn't have the heart to wake him- that would be too greedy of her.

She didn't have the heart to wake Dogmeat either, although Ronnie would be looking for him in due time.

So, instead, Nora slipped the heavy General's coat off from her shoulders, and caught it as it tumbled down her slender arms. Spreading it out, she gently draped the coat over the two of them, making sure it covered Preston's shoulders, while still giving Dogmeat room to breathe- making sure it would keep the two of them warm for the night.

Just as Preston had done for her plenty of times before.

...

Tomorrow would be an even longer day for them.

A longer day for the Minutemen of the Commonwealth.


	2. Diamond City

Nora didn't sleep much that night.

Somewhere between continuously checking in on the wounded, and sending off those letters Ronnie had written for her, she might've dozed off for a few minutes- maybe half an hour. It was just long enough that it managed to put a black spot in her memory, so when she jerked herself awake, she found herself worrying about where she was, and what had happened.

After sending Dogmeat off, much to the canine's consistent whining at having to leave Preston, she just kind of... went in and out of focus. Maybe it was a case of shell-shock, or something of the sorts, but either way, Nora found herself kind of disconnecting from everything around her.

There was little she could do for the wounded, asides from keep guard in case something, or someone, decided to try its hand at targeting the Castle. After the mayhem, and chaos they had just gone through, they would be an easy target. But most people scattered at even just the rumor of the Institute being around- let alone direct eyewitnesses confirming such.

But even if someone did press their luck and tried... she was just one person.

She wouldn't be able to help anyone.

...

For most of the night, Nora found herself out in the courtyard, taking care of the discarded Synths.

It didn't feel quite right at first to rip the scrapped bodies apart and strip them of their gears and circuits, but... they were made from some very high-tech resources; resources that she couldn't risk passing up on. The bodies would be wasted otherwise, and with these new parts, she could manufacture maybe a dozen new turrets. And God knows her settlements were always in dire need of more defenses.

For her, it was a win-win.

She got new resources from the scrapped bodies, and she was clearing up the courtyard as she went.

Of course, she was turning the armory into a mess of scattered metal plates, and torn up wires, but... that could be saved for another day.

...

When the morning sun finally started to roll over the horizon, Nora found herself outside- almost knee-deep in the ocean front.

Her General's uniform had been hung up to dry inside, after she had tried to wash the blood out of it as best she could with what she had. She even tried to patch up the holes that had been burnt in the sleeves, in which she did an okay job. Well, she did a decent enough job that probably wouldn't have made her grandmother want to disown her completely.

Maybe with a little bit of pleading, she could get Marcy to fix the uniform up fine and proper for her.

"Just what in the _HELL_ are you doing?!"

Nora felt her heart leap into her throat at the loud question, and gave a startled gasp as she hastily grabbed at the loose neckline of her shirt. She turned as quickly as one could in the water, half shielding herself behind the purifier next to her, before she realized who it was. And she felt foolish for not even recognizing the voice immediately.

An irritated sigh escaped her as she spotted Ronnie on the beach just a few yards behind her.

"Jesus, Ronnie, would it kill you to, I don't know, announce yourself a little better next time?" Nora questioned, as she loosened up her tense body and slowly stepped back out into view. "I was just taking a morning shower."

"You're standing knee-deep in Mirelurk-infeste waters, dressed in little more than your undies, and drowning yourself under the purifier," Ronnie retorted. "You should be glad that I announced myself the way I did."

"Yes well... until we can have a proper shower installed here, it's the best that I can do," Nora replied, before she reached up and switched the purifier back to its usual faucet. She had gotten Sturges to make her a makeshift sort of shower-head that she could carry with her on her travels; he showed her how to install it on a purifier for desperate measures. It made for a bit of wasted water, but it allowed for a quick, non-radiated shower, so... in the long run, it was worth it.

Most of their settlements had been outfitted with a working purifier now and days, so they were also working on setting up some makeshift sort of showers. Well, they were working on general plumbing over all, but it was difficult- especially for those settlements that didn't contain a natural body of water. The water pumps somewhat worked, but not nearly to the effect of the purifiers- and even then, they had yet to gain enough pressure out of them to run a proper shower.

It would've been even easier if everyone had some spare water lines lying around, like the kind back at Sanctuary, where all the frame work was already done, but that couldn't always be the case.

But for now, it was a step towards better hygiene, so it was better than nothing.

Shuffling her way out of the water, Nora was glad she had found an old pair of shoes to wear to keep her feet from getting cut on the slippery rocks underneath her; she was always glad for the added friction the worn down soles offered. She wrung the water out of her hair as she made it onto the beach, before she worked her way across the sand to retrieve her shotgun; she had strung it up on a nearby tree branch for safe keeping. It was kept off the ground, but well within reach should she have needed to bolt out of the water for safety.

And contrary to Ronnie's accusation, she was wearing a long, ratty sort-of shirt that covered everything necessary; she had cut the sleeves off of it beforehand, but other than that, it fell to her mid-thighs and was far from being risqué. So no, it wasn't like she was naked, or in her underwear. She wasn't reckless enough to dress down to just skin and have water pour over her while standing out in public- even if the early morning shade would've provided enough cover for her.

She had gone skinny dipping a handful of times in her life- she knew when and where it wasn't appropriate.

"I shouldn't have to remind you that you are the General here."

"Then please, don't," Nora quietly chuckled, trying to avoid the way Ronnie shook her head disappointingly at her. "Just let me have this one this time, okay? It was a rough night for everyone, and the day is only going to get worse from here."

The older woman didn't reply and instead turned to walk her back into the Castle.

For now, it would seem, Ronnie would overlook her public faux.

"How is everyone?" Nora questioned- although it could've have been more than an hour since she had last checked.

"The wounded have all woken up, so that's a good sign," Ronnie answered. "So far they're all pretty coherent- they're in pain, but they're coherent. Some of them have even cracked a few jokes, but laughing makes them hurt, so that didn't go over well."

Nora smiled at the remark, as she headed into the far Castle door and started towards the small kitchen in the corner of the fort; it was where she had stashed her change of clothing earlier that morning. "That's good to hear. I'll need everyone good and ready for when we're done with Diamond City."

"What exactly are your plans, General?"

She shook her head as she stepped into the kitchen, and carefully kicked her shoes aside. "In all honesty, Ronnie... I have no idea," Nora admitted, before she turned back around to face the woman. "We got those letters out the night before, so that covers one base, but I can't say that I have any of this planned out."

Ronnie seemed to give her a brief look over, before she grabbed the duel doors and stepped back. "It'll come to you, General."

And with that, she closed the doors to give her some privacy.

... God, she hoped something would come to her.

She was tired of running on fumes, and barely getting by on last minute ideas.

Sighing, she stripped off her soaked shirt, and dropped it into a nearby bucket, before she took the naked opportunity to check her wounds over. She was lucky enough to get through the attack without sustaining any major injuries; most of hers were just burns from barely avoided laser shots that skimmed the skin on her arms and shoulders. She had patches of black streaks on her skin, but nothing more than that.

It didn't seem right that she was able to get out almost unscathed- but it was too late to linger on that.

She needed to stay focused on what was ahead of her.

Picking up an old towel she had snagged earlier, she vaguely dried herself off, before she slowly began to redress. She slipped back into her harass attire, before she carefully fitted her thick, metal chest plate over it; the heavy straps took her some time to readjust so they would fit her slender frame better. Pulling her General's coat down from where she had hung it before, Nora noted that it seemed dry now- and clean for the most part. She slipped into it and readjusted it around herself- hoping she might look presentable seeing as the kitchen lacked a mirror or any sorts.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped out of the kitchen and back into the narrow corridors- ready to take on her role as General once more.

...

Preparing herself for taking back Diamond City as well.

With luck, they'd be able to either cut off the Institute attack, or... derail it completely maybe.

It would still take them a good four, maybe five hours tops to get to the city though- and hopefully nothing would happen between then and now. And hopefully they would get the people that they needed along the way.

If not... then Nora supposed she would just have to take back the city on her own.

Or at least try to.

Making her way down the corridor, Nora took note that most of the wounded were more lively now- more than likely after a good night's sleep, and being patched up pretty heavily. The realization of what had happened the night before, and what they had managed to achieve seemed to put them in better spirits too. Almost bragging spirits really- which they deserved.

Some of them had even pushed their beds closer together, while others were already working on getting back to their feet- much to the medics' dismay it would seem. The stimpaks stimulated accelerated healing, but they weren't necessarily miracle workers- they could heal wounds, but they couldn't give back lost energy. So despite feeling better, everyone would still need to take the time to rest and heal on their own.

... Nora was just glad to see everyone was awake and feeling better, but... she was also glad to see that they seemed happy to see her too.

"So General, what happens now?" Molly, the woman she had helped tend to the night before, questioned. She was already looking better- the proper color had returned to her skin, and she was sitting up, looking to be in better spirits herself.

"Well, for now, everyone here will work on getting better and recovering," Nora started, "- and I don't want to hear any arguing with the medics. We're going to need everyone in the long run, and I can't have you guys out for longer than necessary because you didn't think you needed that extra day of bedrest." cue the quiet chorus of groans, and slight objections, which drew a brief laugh from her. They were alive, and they were happy to be alive- they didn't want to be reminded that it could've been very different for them- for everyone. Which only drew her to continue, to tell them what she needed them to know. "I won't keep secrets from you. Last night, I received intel of another Institute attack in which they plan on targeting Diamond City- and as the Minutemen before us, we must do what we can to protect the city and it's people. So... I will be departing soon to take care of it, and I will be joining up with some of our brother units along the way. Don't feel useless that you can't be there to help- all of you have done enough for the Commonwealth, as dictated by your actions yesterday. With hope, myself and the responding unit, will make you proud."

"Give 'em hell, General!"

Nora laughed once more, enjoying the light-hearted atmosphere, before she nodded. "You can bet, on behalf of the Minutemen, that I will."

...

She went from room to room, bed to bed, making sure that everyone had what they needed, and listening to any departing words someone might have for her. She repeated her speech as needed, and assured anyone of any concerns they had- promising that she would be back in a timely fashion.

By the time she reached the end of the Castle, she felt emotionally drained once more.

"So what's this I hear about Diamond City?"

Nora perked up at the question as she stepped out into the courtyard, and couldn't help but smile as she spotted Preston standing nearby- redressed and everything. "Deacon and Glory stopped by last night after the whole fiasco," she started, as she walked over to him. "They got intel that the Institute was planning attacks on all of their safe houses, as well as Diamond City- all to make a point to the Commonwealth. The Railroad has their hands full with this, and asked if I could get enough men together to protect the city. I didn't think we could, and I still don't know if we have, but... at this point, we don't have a choice. It's the Institute, or us. And there's no way we can lose to them, and let them take the Commonwealth. I sent some recruitment messages out last night, and we've already received some radio calls assuring us of reinforcements- I just have to go meet with them. I'm going to take them to Diamond City, and... hope for the best."

"You got your hands full just as well then," he replied.

"Tell me about it," she nodded with a heavy sigh, as one hand moved to rub the back of her neck, before a quick chuckle escaped her. Before she moved to barely tapped him on the shoulder. "Are you healed up enough to go with me, Cowboy?"

Preston matched her quiet laugh and touched at the bandaged portion of his chest. "Probably not, but... that's not going to stop me. We're in this for the long run- together."

Nora smiled, before she moved to tangle her fingers in the sleeve of his duster, lightly tugging on the coarse material. "Good, because I'm really going to need you to be there for me on this one."

"You can count on me-"

"General, I just got word that the first unit is out and awaiting your arrival," Ronnie interrupted, as she came across the courtyard towards them. "They'll be grouping up with you at the South Boston police station. The second unit will be at the South Boston Military Checkpoint, and the last one will be at the Rationing Site. I told them you would be departing soon, so get a move on- and don't keep those men and women waiting."

Nora turned towards the woman, starting to thank her for the information, before Ronnie shoved a bag into her arms- interrupting her. She didn't wait for an explanation though, and simply shouldered it on, figuring it was full of supplies for the road. "Thanks Ronnie," she spoke, "be sure to hold down the fort while I'm gone, alright? You're in charge."

"I figured just as much," Ronnie replied, before she turned towards Preston. "Just as I figured that you'd be going with the General, Mr. Garvey- even if you're not exactly in prime shape." she shoved a separate bag into his chest, as though making a point with the way he flinched in result. "Between the two of you, one of you should be able to come back alive."

"Just have everyone back on their feet by the time I get back, alright?" Nora spoke.

"Sure thing, General."

...

And with that, the two of them departed.

They tried to cut out as much time as they could from their journey, at least without overexerting themselves; the last thing they needed to do was show up to the police station out of breath and barely able to walk.

Nora moved in mostly silence, constantly thinking about the men and women back at the Castle- thinking about Father, and what he had done to her... and what she had done to him. Part of her felt guilt. After all this time searching, and getting the Commonwealth involved, she turned her son away when he asked her to join him.

But he had called her a science project, and had referred to Nate as 'collateral damage'. What was she suppose to do? She couldn't just let him think that she approved of his atrocities.

Sure, the men and women who had decided to steal him as an infant were long dead, but... that didn't clean his hands of sin.

Just like doing this wouldn't clean her hands of blood.

...

It took them a little over an hour, but when they finally arrived at the police station, they found sixteen men and women waiting for them.

Which was about three times as many as she was expecting.

"Good morning, General," one of the women spoke as soon as they drew near; she was dressed to the collar in uniform, and armor- and kept a pretty nasty looking rifle strapped across her back. "Sorry we couldn't be here sooner."

"... What's important is that you're here now," Nora assured, as she let her eyes be drawn from one person to another, "to be honest... I'm surprised at how many of you are here to begin with."

"Well General, when you make a call, you make a call," another man replied, as he kept a laser musket well balanced in his hands. "We gathered up and got here as soon as we got your message."

It was... almost unbelievable at how quickly this many people had gathered overnight- all for one cause. Abet, a rather large cause, but still, most people ran at the news of an Institute invasion.

But not them.

Not her Minutemen.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Nora spoke, as she readjusted her thick collar to show off the four, golden stars pinned to it- suddenly feeling a little more pride and strength in displaying them. "We'll be meeting up with another unit at the military checkpoint to the west, let's not keep them waiting."

* * *

The military checkpoint surprised her further with twenty men and women.

Many of whom she recognized.

"We got here as soon as we could, General."

Nora smiled as she pulled herself through the half-ripped open fence, watching as everyone who had been waiting started to pack up their things for the road. "Just what the hell are you doing out this far, Abraham? Not that I'm not glad to see you here, but that must've been a hell of a journey for you and the boys."

"Well, lucky for you we were already working our way back from the city when we heard about the Castle- then we got your message on the radio," Abraham replied. "We figured after everything you did for us, the least we could do was answer the call."

"What about Abigail?" she asked. "I mean, I know the woman's got a good aim, but is she gonna be alright by herself?"

"Don't you worry about Abby, she's beaten the skin off Raiders before," he assured. "Plus, the Slog's just down the road, and I asked Wiseman to check in on her every now and then- we watch each other's backs."

She nodded, glad to have a little more weight taken off of her shoulders. "Thank you," she spoke, before she looked across the combined group they had. There was thirty-eight of them in total now... against potentially dozens upon dozens of Synths. She knew they could stand up to them though, and had a feeling that victory was well within their hands now. But... that cocky sense of near victory reminded her of something else- something she couldn't afford to ignore. "Alright, listen, all of us moving in one large group like this is going to call attention," Nora started. "I know I called a message to protect Diamond City, but... I know a few other places that are going to get hit as well- and a lot of people are going to get hurt. I'll understand if you don't want to shift gears, but-"

"Look, you just send us where you need us, General," Abraham assured. "Whatever you need us to do, we'll do it."

Nora wouldn't admit that she had to fight back a few tears of gratitude. "Okay, I... I'm going to need you to head to a place called Ticonderoga. It's right close by the Monsignor Plaza, near Bunker Hill- you can't miss it. I know it's out of place, and out of the way, but... I got people there who are being targeted, and I can't leave them to do this by themselves."

"You got it, General," he nodded. "It'll take us awhile to get there, but we should be alright."

"Thank you again," she sighed, "I owe you one."

"Think nothing of it- me and the boys will be leaving right now."

Nora nodded, and watched as the team split into two groups, watching as ten of them began the long trek towards the Ticonderoga tower. She could only hope and pray that they would get there in time- and if not then... maybe they could bury whoever was left before Raiders got to them. Shaking her head, she refocused on the objective ahead, and turned back to her own growing group. "Alright, let's keep going then," she spoke, "we've got one more stop before we hit the city."

They headed back onto the road, and with the additional men around her, she felt more confident about what laid ahead of them.

"Do you want to fill me in on what's going on, or should I make a guess?" Preston questioned, as he caught up to her side- no doubt having just finished helping some of the recruits with their carrying supplies.

Nora looked over to him, studying him for a brief second, before she sighed. "I know, I guess I'm... sort of mishandling our men here, but..."

"You're talking about the Railroad," he spoke- not even a question, but a statement.

"Yeah," she answered. "I can't lose them."

"It's noble," he replied. "Our job is to protect the people of the Commonwealth- so you're only doing what's necessary."

"I just hope it's enough."

* * *

The Rationing Site joined thirteen more people to the cause.

As well as a certain canine companion who barked from the moment he heard them and ran out to meet them- only to bypass her, and go straight to Preston; she tried not to feel hurt about it. Instead, she turned her attention to the man who walked out to greet them as well.

"Christ, first Abraham, and now you too, Blake?" Nora started, as she reached out and grabbed his extended hand- giving it a hearty shake.

"Believe me, General, we've been on the road since we heard the first broadcast- you're lucky we managed to catch that second call," Blake replied. "Or that Dogmeat managed to find us too. But now that we're all here, we're ready for whatever you need us to do."

"I'm glad to hear that," she replied, "because I really need you to head to the historical district for me. Not sure what the Institute is looking for there, but they're going to scrap the entire downtown area in order to find it. I know a few people living in that area, and they're not going to stand a chance against a full frontal assault like that- I'm gonna need you and everyone here to protect them. Or, get them out of the area if things start to get bad. I don't want anyone risking their lives for this, we've lost enough people."

Blake nodded and moved to rest a hand on her shoulder, giving it a brief squeeze and shake. "You got it, General."

"You're a Godsend, Blake- all of you are," Nora nodded. "In fact, here, keep Dogmeat with you, alright? He knows the area pretty well, and he knows where the people hiding are. If he takes off running in the heat of battle, just let him go- he knows what to do down there. Other than that, I... I'll see you when all of this is over with, alright? Keep your radios open; you'll be hearing from me soon."

She watched as the group began to depart, before she turned her attention back to Dogmeat, who was whining at her now. "I know, I'm sorry, buddy, but I really need you to do this for me, okay? I need you to find Desdemona, and don't leave her side, alright? I need her, and the rest of the Railroad to make it through this. And when this is all over, you and I will never part again, okay?" she heard him give a muffled bark, before he turned to look at Preston. "Ugh, fine, then I won't separate you and Preston again."

Preston laughed at her mock-angered tone, before he knelt down and gently took Dogmeat by the head. "Alright buddy, you heard the General. Just follow Mr. Abernathy around and make sure they get to where they're going good and safe, alright?"

The canine gave a more enthusiastic bark, before he took off after the departing group.

"I hate him," Nora muttered- hearing Preston laugh at her once more, which only caused her to laugh at herself too. "Alright, let's get going people," she called, as she turned her attention back to the road. "This is it. We're heading out to Diamond city now; let's prepare ourselves for what we're going to see there."

* * *

She saw the blue lights from a distance- watching as they disappeared behind the great green wall.

She knew something was wrong the moment they were met with silence in the half-barricaded streets that surrounded Diamond City. There were no guards, no one on patrol- not even the wild mongrels who normally harassed visitors were around; it was just too odd, too quiet for anything good to have happened.

At first she thought they were entirely too late, that everyone in the city had already been killed... but the muffled sound of gunfire and screaming said that there were still people alive inside.

The Institute must've attacked ahead of schedule- no doubt aware of her plans in advance. Or maybe this was when they were going to attack anyways, she didn't know. She didn't really have time to think on it.

Gritting her teeth, Nora broke into a full run down the narrow street, desperate to reach the city before everything went to hell. And she heard the rest of her unit quickly follow in suit.

"Any plans on going in?" Preston questioned, keeping easy at her side.

Nora wished she could say that she had concrete plans, but... she had kind of been banking on having a little more set up time. She figured once they hit Diamond City, something would come to her- or maybe he would have a better idea of how to set up defenses. That wasn't to say she didn't have some kind of working idea in her head, as bare bones as it was, it was still something for them to work off of.

"The city is pretty isolated, so that kind of works in our favor," she started.

"Close quarters can be dangerous, but if we can get the Synths to line up how we want them, it'll be like a shooting gallery," he nodded.

"Yeah, shooting Synths in a barrel," Nora replied. "The city does have the Upper and Lower stands though. The way I see it, a majority of the Synths will probably be in the Lower stands since that's where a majority of the people are. You take a small group with you and clear out the Upper stands as soon as we get in- get everyone secured in the bar, and then regroup with us down below. We'll just have to take it all from there, but... it's a direction."

"Got it."

Cutting through the city streets, they made it across the front entrance and slipped in through the opened gate- where they found themselves running headfirst into a crowd of people escaping the city.

Nora nearly lost her footing in the chaos, but managed to maintain it long enough to get herself through the crowd. She briefly shouted out for some of her men to keep an eye on the escapees, before she forced her way into the city.

...

Standing at the top of the staircase, Nora looked down to see the chaos of streets flooded with Synths, who were attempting to gun own anyone who stood in sight. She could hear people screaming and caught sight of a few of them running- barely escaping the floor of laser rounds that were shot their way.

The Diamond City guards were little match against the Institute's high-powered rifles, but that didn't stop them from hammering at a few of the Synths with their bats- barely allowing some civilians to escape.

It was like a scene out of one of those old horror movies she used to enjoy watching.

A city encased in chaos and death.

... But it was now, or never.

The sharp crack of gunfire close behind her said that her rifleman line had already set up and were taking shots from the entrance. And the absence of Preston at her side said that he had already taken a few men up into the Upper stands- hopefully he would check in on Mayor McDonough as well.

Pulling her shotgun from her back, she raced down the staircase and took the first shot she could at the closest group of Synths. The explosive shell tore through their metal exterior, blowing out their mechanical components, and leaving little more than sparking, frayed wires in the aftermath. It was a heavy enough blast that she took down three with the first shell- the wide, explosive spread blowing each of them in half.

Almost immediately, it was like every Synth turned on her- ignoring the fleeing civilians now.

But just behind her, a hailstorm of bullets was raining down, blowing through the first couple of lines of Synths who stood watching her. They cleared out the block between the Publik Occurrence and Butcher shop, and down to Takahashi noodle stand before she even hit the bottom of the stairs.

She kicked through a mess of synthetic limbs and rolling heads as she continued through the city.

Her breath was tight in her throat, and her heart wild in her chest.

She was scared... just as she had been back at the Castle.

The Castle had room to run though, room to escape from the mess and allow someone to cover you. But being pinned in the courtyard didn't leave them with much cover, just like the tight streets of the city gave little breathing room. She had to go into battle head-on, and just hope that she shot first.

The Synths seemed never-ending as she and her men grinded through the front of the city, clearing out the central marketplace before they split into the separate alleyways. They worked slow, ensuring every Synth was taken down as they moved step by step towards the back of the city. The narrow alleyways made it easy to trap and shred the Synths apart, especially with her and two others taking lead with the shotguns. They were at greater risk for taking hits though, but so far so good, no one had been devastatingly hit yet.

Her loud shells left her ears ringing from the heavy echoes that were fired back at her in the close quarters.

Stepping out into the back courtyard allowed them more breathing room, and gave her riflemen a chance to contribute as they set up once more. So far, they hadn't run into any other civilians, so she could only hope and pray that they had either escaped, or were holed up somewhere safe.

... It felt like she was burning up.

She could barely breathe through the smell of gunpowder and smoke that lingered in the air.

They met up with the other half of their party in the back courtyard, and finished off the remaining Synths, before they rounded back towards the marketplace.

...

All that panicked planning, and paranoia... and they finished blowing through the first wave of Synths within minutes- leaving the streets covered in splintered casings and robotic limbs. It was only the start though, she knew that- and she also knew that it would only get worse from here.

But for now, it was over, and they had some time to regroup and get things together.

"General, the Upper stands are secured and we got everyone in the bar for safety," Preston spoke, sounding out of breath as he regrouped with her after making his way through the crowd.

"Good, good, thank you," Nora nodded through her own heavy breaths, as she tried to flex her fingers; she had been holding onto her shotgun so tightly, and for so long, it felt like her hands were permanently stuck that way. "Are you alright?"

"Don't worry about me," he assured.

It wasn't exactly the answer she was looking for, and it wasn't like she didn't notice him keeping one hand against his chest. She would just have to take his word for it though; he knew she wouldn't want him pushing himself, or putting himself in a worse condition.

Briefly clearing her throat, Nora looked at the men and women around her. "Alright, first wave was easy, and it's going to buy us some time," she announced. "Let's do a full sweep around the city just in case. If you find anyone still out there, make sure to send them to the schoolhouse- that's our registered safe house for now. Miles, Sarah, you two keep guard, alright? No Synth in- no matter what. Anyone who can hold a gun is more than welcome to pick one up, but I don't want anyone to get hurt if it can be avoided." she watched as her people nodded, and began to split into groups to circle around the city.

It was only starting, but... they could do this.

She could do this.

"About time you got here, Blue!"

Nora turned at the call of the artful nickname, and watched as both Piper and Nick hurried across the synthetic graveyard to her. Both of them looked a little worse for wear, but if she knew anything about the two, she knew they had been keeping the city safe until her arrival. "Piper, Nick," she breathed in relief, "are you two alright? How long have they been attacking?"

"Maybe ten minutes before the cavalry arrived," Piper answered, sporting a fresh cut on one cheek, and a few burns on her jacket. "The two of us, and some of the boys were able to hold them off at first, long enough for people to get to safety, but then more Synths kept teleporting in... I didn't think we were going to stand for much longer."

"Your timing might not be impeccable, but you put on a hell of a show," Nick remarked.

"You should've seen the one last night," Nora whispered, watching as some of her men helped to guide a few of the injured inside. She felt Preston squeeze her shoulder in assurance, before he left to help some of the civilians get into the schoolhouse. Her heart was still pounding, and she could feel hot sweat collecting against her skin; every time she moved her head, it was like she could feel every drop pooling across her neck and brow.

"Yeah, we... we heard about that," Piper nodded. "It's good to see you guys are okay though."

Nora turned back to the woman, her brow slightly furrowed. "How did you..."

"Some of your boys were in town when the radio went off announcing the attack," Nick explained. "They took off like they were on fire."

"All I heard was that 'Institute forces have descended on the Castle' before they ran out of here," Piper started. "I got worried, so I managed to convince Travis into changing the frequency on the tower to pick up you guys' radio... We heard the whole thing. First it was attacks from the west end, and then the south, and then... they were right on top of you guys. And then it just got really quiet..."

Nora felt her stomach drop at the words, and remembered hearing the radio call outs herself- remembering every new dash of panic at newly arriving Synth forces. She could still hear everyone shouting over the gunfires and explosions, shouting for assistance, or additional support along the newly collapsed wall. She could still feel the heat of the laser rounds that barely missed her, still feel the heat of them as they burned through her thick sleeve instead- barely scorching her skin.

She could still hear the cries of the wounded, and the stone silence of the dead.

"How are you holding up?" Nick questioned.

How loaded of a question it was.

"... I lost fifteen men and women last night," Nora started, unsure of why those were the first words to come out of her; maybe because she didn't want to forget about them, didn't want to think about who was burying them right now. "The Institute caused irreversible damage to the Castle, wounded the rest of my people, nearly killed Preston too... We were damn lucky we got reinforcements that night. If we had been one man short, it would've made all the difference- we sure as hell wouldn't be standing here having this conversation. The Institute is launching attacks all across the Commonwealth, I... I'm trying to be everywhere at once, I'm trying to fix this. But I'm just... I'm tired, I'm scared, and I'm pissed off."

"Blue..."

"I've been inside of the Institute," Nora continued, the words sharp on her tongue now, "and when we're through here... I'm going back in."

"General, we've got Synths incoming!"

Nora turned at the call, just in time to watch another Synth unit teleport in- two Coursers included. She should've anticipated their arrival, and yet she found herself still surprised by their presence. "Fuck me, concentrate your shots!" she called, watching as her men immediately began to rain bullets on the Synths. "Piper, Nick, give me a hand with these Coursers, will you."

"You got it, _General_!"


	3. Ticonderoga

The laser shot hit Nora harder than she thought it would.

She had just barely turned in time to see the Courser pull the trigger on her- barely saw the barrel light up with that familiar red beam. And like a cat on the wrong end of a laser pointer, she was left scrambling to do something.

A little too late though.

Her head snapped around at the sharp heat that cut through the skin of her right cheek, leaving her mind spinning and reeling from the sharp blow. She felt her body follow through the sudden twist of her head, and felt her feet stumble. It was like everything moved in slow motion for a few seconds, as she lost the strength and balance in her legs, before they completely gave out from underneath her.

... She hit the ground harder than she should've.

Sheering hot pain rushed through her face as blood was quick to fill her mouth.

She moved her palm to press against the injury, hoping to protect the open wound from the dirt underneath her- as well as attempt to slow down the bleeding. But her hand pressed against skin that only peeled away and gave out underneath the touch, partly sliding the fat of her thumb between her teeth.

Christ, did it fucking hurt.

Nora's head was absolutely pounding, making it difficult to hear the battles still ongoing around her.

But she swore she heard someone shout, "General down!"

Part of her wanted to stay on the ground, curled up and in agony- because then, at the very least, she could didn't have to keep fighting.

But she did- she had to keep going.

Groaning, Nora pushed herself onto her forearm, and then worked her other arm underneath her- forcing herself back up amongst the chaos of shouting and gunshots echoing around her. She felt a tight hand grab her by the upper arm, before they hoisted her to her feet- which only made her head seemingly spin faster.

"You alright, Blue?"

Piper was standing to her left- completely oblivious to the wound on her right cheek.

"Lucky shot," Nora muttered, as she tried to straighten herself back up- working the strength and feeling back into her limbs. She felt light-headed and the bubbling of nausea filled her chest and throat; the lack of proper sleep and the overwhelming feeling of stress was taking its toll on her now. Warm blood ran thickly down her cheek and dripped off of her chin, some of it even filling her mouth despite the attempts to spit it out- which only left behind a bitter copper taste on her tongue.

She had to keep fighting though; she had to keep moving forward.

None of this was over just yet.

"Come on, let's put an end to these things."

Her men had been somewhat scattered when the second wave of Synths had arrived, which oddly enough worked out in their favor. They splintered further apart, so that one team remained up front, while the rest took the alleyways and back field- ensuring that the important veins of Diamond City were covered.

Doing so made them lose their strong, pushing front, but this technique allowed them to clear different portions of the city at once.

Which was greatly needed.

The Synths went down with fair ease- although not nearly as quickly as the first wave had.

It was the Coursers that provided some struggle. There were only two of them, but these things were created and trained to kill- and it took every man looking out for each other to avoid a casualty.

With Piper and Nick's persistent bullet peppering though, the Courser duo went down in a haze of smoke and blood.

...

By the time it was all over again, they were all practically kicking aside the synthetic parts that had piled up in the streets.

Nora, once more, found herself standing amongst the wreckage and chaos- and once more, she found herself getting sick from the smell of burning machinery. Too many bullets, and too many risks, but... the city was safe. For now.

"Is everyone alright? Do we have any injured?" Nora called, watching as her men slowly regrouped back at the center of the marketplace. Most of them appeared to be in good health, but... she wasn't going to risk it.

"Just a few of us," Kellis, one of her men, answered; he was limping himself even as he carried someone on his shoulder. "Nothing serious though- I twisted my ankle running down the stairs."

Nora couldn't help but to offer the man a sympathetic laugh- gracious that he was still doing everything he could to remain on his feet. She turned to scan the rest of her men, hoping not to see any serious injuries, but expecting some regardless. Instead, however, she spotted Preston as he came towards her once again- and almost immediately she knew that chest wound from the day before was not treating him well. He looked pale, and tired, despite the straight way he walked towards her. "You alright, Cowboy?" she pressed, worry and concern spilling easily into her voice. "You're not looking too good."

"I'm fine," he assured once more, not even skipping a beat with the answer, before admitting, "although I'm not sure if I'm going to last through a third wave. I'm a little more worried about that cut on your face though- what happened?"

She touched at the cut- careful not to touch it directly though. It stung, but the pain had numbed down to the point where it felt like half of her face was paralyzed; hell, it hurt to talk, and she wasn't even sure if she wasn't slurring her speech right now. Deep down, she was freaking out over it. It was a hell of an injury, and it wasn't like she wanted to know how it would feel to have her cheek ripped in half. But she couldn't exactly risk a meltdown right here- not in front of her men anyways. Not when the day before, she had seen several of her people nearly get their arms blown off by similar shots.

"Courser shot," Nora spoke, "it shouldn't slow me down though."

If the remark was supposed to reassure Preston in the slightest, it didn't appear to have that effect.

And she couldn't really blame him for not believing her.

"You just gave me one hellva story to write- and one with a happy ending this time, at least for now."

Nora looked up and turned at the voice- her hand automatically moving down to cover her spliced cheek. She watched as Nick and Piper found them once more through the mess of synthetic bodies, and regrouped with them.

"So what now, Blue?"

"We regroup, we rest... and then we go for the Institute," Nora answered, with a strange sense of confidence. "I'm not sure exactly how we're going to do it just yet, but I'm not going to let them get away with this." All of this, all of the damage that they had done to the Institute today... it wasn't even a slap on the wrist for them. It was a bold ass statement, sure, but that didn't mean shit if they couldn't do some major damage to really get them hurting.

She wanted to hurt them.

She wanted... she wanted Shaun to know what it was like.

"You're talking war then?" Nick questioned.

"Genocide if I have to," Nora corrected, catching sight of her men finally grouped together in one place; most of them were seated on the ground where they had cleared out the space to do so. From what she could tell, they had every head that they had walked in with, so... no casualties. Thank God. They would be waiting for her though; they needed her. She turned her attention back to Piper and Nick, who seemed to have noticed as well. "If you'll excuse us for a moment," she spoke, as she nudged Preston on the arm, before they two of them headed over to their weary, but proud-looking group.

A few of her soldiers were still standing, still on-guard, waiting for a potential third wave to arrive. Nora wasn't certain why, but she got the feeling that this might be it. If the Institute was planning attacks across Boston, then... they couldn't exactly risk wasting any more Synths.

A majority of her men were seated though, with some of them lying down completely, while others poured water over their heads and faces- either trying to cool themselves down, or draw themselves back into reality.

"We did it once, and we managed to do it again," Nora spoke, offering the best smile she could despite one mutilated cheek. "The Institute should've learned by now not to fuck with the Minutemen."

The crowd gave a small, weary, but honest cheer.

"So what do we do now, General?"

"We rest," she answered, "we deserve it." and she smiled again at the second, more energetic cheer, before she waved them down. Pulling out the radio she had stuffed into the inside of her jacket, one that Ronnie had packed for her, she switched it on and raised it to her mouth. "Castle, this is the General calling in, do you copy?" she spoke, holding the radio slightly off so that everyone could hear the response.

"It's good to hear your voice again, General."

Nora sighed and smiled in relief at the sound of her voice. "Ronnie, it's actually good to hear you again. Diamond City is safe and secured for the moment. We have minimum wounded, and no casualties. How are things on your end?"

"It's all quiet on this end, General."

"Good, good... Keep an ear out for any of the other units, alright? We're a little scattered right now, and I want them checking in as soon as possible- and I want you to radio me as soon as you hear back from them."

"You got it."

Nora nodded, before she slipped her radio back into her jacket, and turned back to her men. "Alright, let's get the wounded to Doctor Sun's clinic, and get you guys patched up again."

Those of her men who were up to it continued to do security checks around the city- keeping post just in case another Institute attack struck. They went door to door, assuring the Diamond City residents that everything was over for now. Many of them insisted on staying hidden, or returning back to their homes to lock up, but a few decided to come out to inspect the damages.

The security guards went back to their posts, abet a little shaky and nervous now. But the mess of synthetic pieces lying around, and the sight of plenty of Minutemen seemed to assure them that everything was going to be alright. Some of the guards went to work on cleaning up the streets by shoving the synthetic pieces aside, and piling them up towards the back field.

Nora briefly wondered if she could convince Myrna to take the spare pieces for parts to sell- but she wasn't sure if she'd be able to convince the shopkeep that there weren't any kind of tracking devices on the Synths. She had a feeling Myrna would just close the door in her face at the offer.

At the very least, Doctor Sun was quick to reopen his clinic and get her men running through it. He worked fast, and efficiently with each person- even though the worst injury of them all might've been Kurtis' hip shot from a Courser. Nothing tragically bad, although he'd have to stay off his feet for awhile.

She insisted that everyone else get looked at first while she continued to patrol the city- but after nearly passing out once or twice from the rapid feeling of nausea, she decided to bite the bullet and get in line.

"You're lucky you still have all your teeth intact," Doctor Sun mused, as he hit her up with a Stimpak first, before he went about cleaning the wound. "And your tongue for that matter."

She figured as much, and tried to remain still as he cut away the burnt, dead skin that flaked off under his hands.

Nora wasn't certain if, at one point, she passed out during the procedure, or what, but she didn't remember a lot of it. She didn't remember Sun stitching her patchwork cheek back together, or plastering it with an... orange paste of some kind. She also didn't remember possibly puking up twice in the corner bin of the room, but Sun seemed insistent on reminding her of that.

"It would be too difficult to bandage the injury as is- without wrapping your entire head up of course. Just try not to touch the ointment, it'll cure the burns, and seal the wound for the time being. It smells horrible, but it does the job."

"Ugh, thanks for the work, Doctor," Nora muttered, feeling heavy on her feet now as she shifted back into her coat- trying to ignore what felt like rocks in her stomach. "Just put everyone under my tab, alright? I'll get the payment to you the next time I'm in town."

"It's good money to pass up on, but... keep it," Doctor Sun spoke, washing his hands in the nearby sink. "You just saved the city from become a second University Point- it's the least I can do in thanks."

She wished she could've done more than nod, but it was all she could muster out, before she stepped out of the small clinic.

Nora barely made it a few steps out before she felt Preston next to her- briefly catching her as she was more focused on how the sun hurt her eyes than the rocks under her feet.

"You alright? You look a little..." his voice trailed before he finished, hinting that he couldn't think of something appropriate to say.

"I'm great- Miss. America right here," she mused, giving a half smile on her unaffected cheek. "How long was I in there? What'd I miss?"

Preston chuckled briefly at her somewhat slurred questions. "Well Piper managed to reserve all the rooms down at the DugOut Inn, as you requested, and a lot of our guys are already there. Of course, the unfortunate part is that Vadim insisted on free booze for everyone- and he wouldn't take no for an answer, so... that might be a reason why some of the guys are passed out in the DugOut lobby."

Nora gave a subtle laugh as she leaned in heavily against his shoulder. A nice cold beer sounded really good right now if she didn't think she would vomit all over the place- or that it would spill out through her open cheek. "Thank God Ronnie isn't here."

"You're telling me."

"Hey, there you two are," Piper called as she hurried across the marketplace to them. "You two are actually pretty easy to lose, believe it or not. And look at you, Blue, looking... front page worthy."

"Please, Piper... I know," Nora replied, garnering a quick laugh from the woman. "Now then, if you don't mind me... I need to crash somewhere while I still have my dignity intact."

"Why don't you two crash at my place?" the woman offered. "You guys certainly deserve to get some rest yourselves- and I'm pretty sure the Inn is already past max capacity. I'll just have to kick Nat out for a bit, but I'm sure she won't mind."

"You're a Saint, Piper," she sighed, as she rubbed the back of her neck- trying hard not to touch at her thickly plastered cheek. "If anyone asks for me though, just let them know I'm in there. I got a few loose reports I'm trying to hear back from... and I don't want to miss a potential call." she watched as the woman nodded, before she tugged Preston on the arm and pulled him with her. "Come on, let's go."

It was a short, yet slow walk to the News reporter's house, and she leaned against him the entire time.

It felt like she was going to pass out on her feet.

Stepping inside of the small house, she gave out a heavy groan and worked off her coat, before she tossed it over the back of a nearby chair. There was a coat rack nearby, but she didn't think she could even lift her arms high enough for the coat to reach the first hook. Numb fingers barely worked off her chest plate as well, which fumbled into the chair just the same- just barely avoiding a bounce onto the floor.

"I never want to see another Synth again," Nora muttered, as she slowly eased herself down onto the couch- feeling her entire body turn to stone at the motion.

Preston offered her a brief, sympathetic chuckle. "I don't think that's possible for you right now," he reminded, "especially with the plans you have in mind."

Nora groaned once more, before she ushered for him to join her, and watched as he took the other end of the couch- allowing their legs to slightly overlap one another. "I bet they sound pretty crazy, right?"

"I haven't heard the full story, so I can't pass judgement," he replied.

As much as she talked about going head-to-head with the Institute... it wasn't like she had a concrete way of doing so right now. She was pretty certain the Transmitter wouldn't work anymore, and that was the only way in.

She didn't want to admit that all of this may be for naught.

"Well... right now, it's just me talking out the ass," Nora muttered, as she took one of the loose couch pillows and hugged it to her chest.

"Get some rest, General."

* * *

"Glory, look, I know you don't want to give up the fight, but... if we leave now, we at least escape with our lives!"

She gritted her teeth at the words that were barely registered over the roar of her minigun. Her eyes were firmly set on the Synth patrol that was making its way up the street in front of them. She had yet to see a Courser, but that wasn't to say that one wouldn't relay in sometime soon- especially since she was making a mess of these Synth patrollers. It wasn't like they were losing, but... "And then what, High-Rise? We find another place to sit on our hands until they come after us again? I'm through with running away!"

The man shot her a look from where he was tucked behind a nearby broken wall to her left. Despite his words urging them to run, he didn't leave her side. "You're too stubborn, G."

"Yeah well, I guess they should've looked into that design flaw," Glory replied, as she finished off her ammo reel before she ducked behind the pillar against her back; she could already feel the palms of her hands getting hot from the overworked barrel, as one hand ripped the empty stock out, before she hastily began reloading. God knows how many bullets she had already pumped into those Institute bastards- but she had plenty more if they wanted it.

There were already synthetic bodies piling up on the road to the left of Ticonderoga- about two units' worth of scrap pieces that she and High-Rise had already gunned down. As much as she hated to see it... as much as she hated to gun down her own kind, they didn't give her any other choice. It was either the Institute, or the Railroad- and she damn well knew where her loyalties lied.

If she had to die here to ensure the tower, then fine.

"Glory! High-Rise!"

She broke contact with her minigun just long enough to see Deacon come scrambling up behind them- immediately ducking behind a barricade to her right. The man was a little beaten up and bloody, but overall in good health. His knuckles were white as he kept a tight grip on his gun with one hand, while the other wiped the sweat from his brow and neck.

Deacon was a born liar, hardly ever sweated his way through a story, let alone a fight.

So this must've been pretty serious for him.

"Look, we got all the agents and synths evacuated, but our exit is about to be cut off- we need to leave _now_ ," he spoke.

"Glory, look-" High-Rise started, attempting yet another futile debate.

"If you want to leave, then leave!" she bit, as fingers finished with the reload, before she hoisted her gun back up again. She flinched briefly as she heard the sound of Institute rifles going off, and watched as the fusion beams just barely missed her; she felt a lot of them strike the pillar against her back, causing it to shake with each hit. "I'm not going."

"What do- what do you mean you're not going?" Deacon snapped, before he ducked further down as more Synths teleported onto the streets in front of them- filling the broken road completely. And suddenly, all those units they had taken down were nothing but pocket change, as nearly twice that amount began moving in on them. "Glory, this is not a suicide mission! If we leave now, the only thing we lose is the building- and yes, I know it is a very nice place, but it is not worth your life! Now come on, Dez still needs you!"

It wasn't about the goddamn building!

It was a matter of principle, of fight... She was tired of running away and letting the Institute win again and again. She didn't want another Switchboard, she didn't want another Tommy Whispers; she just wanted to win.

Just this once.

"When are we going to-"

The words were half-finished before a high-pitched whistling sound cut her off. Glory peeked around the side of the pillar for a split second, wondering just what the hell had made that noise; it wasn't from their end, and she didn't know of any Institute weapon that could-

A few seconds later, she caught sight of something in the air, before the entire street in front of them erupted into a mess of fire and smoke. She pulled back around and braced herself against the pillar as the aftershock of the blast blew past them- sending a cloud of dust and debris all around them. The metallic clang of robotic pieces echoed around her, as she briefly caught sight of a few arms and legs that had been launched into the air.

Her mind had been racing underneath the constant wave of laser rounds, and bullets, but now... now it came to a stop.

She didn't question how much time they might've had left, or how many more Synth patrol units were going to relay in.

She didn't wonder if everyone had been evacuated yet, or not- or if another patrol would round up behind them and gun them down.

No.

Her mind all but stopped on a single question.

Where the hell did that explosion come from?

She wasn't even aware she had been holding her breath until she let it out, until she peek out from around the pillar once the smoke had cleared. The explosion had not only cleared out the entire street of Synths, but... it had also partly destroyed the road, and blew out a good chunk of a nearby building.

"We don't use explosives like that," High-Rise breathed, sounding hesitant, back pressed tight against his cover, "and the Institute sure as hell doesn't either."

"That's because Dez won' let us," Glory whispered. She sure as hell would love to use that kind of equipment- that kind of power. But what the hell could've fired off that explosive anyways? It was too big to be from a rocket launcher, and it sounded like a goddamn cannon.

And more importantly, who fired it?

Her eyes caught sight of figures moving in the smoke, and quickly drew her minigun back up- fingers tight on the trigger as she began to spin the barrels to warm them up. She wasn't going to be caught off-guard just by a fancy light show.

Before she could fire even a single bullet though, Glory watched as Deacon leapt to his feet, and quickly pushed down on the minigun- forcing her to release the trigger.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he interrupted, moving like all life depended on it. His face was tense as he stared intently at the moving figures in front of them; his sunglasses had partly slipped down his nose, making him seem even more anxious with the motion. "You gotta be fucking me..."

"Deacon, what the fuck are you talking about?" Glory hissed, as she jerked her minigun out from underneath him- nearly knocking him to the ground.

He gave a half-assed kind of laugh, like a mix of nerves and relief. "It's the goddamn Minutemen."

"The who?" High-Rise questioned, as he lowered his gun and somewhat stepped out from behind his cover as well. "I thought they went down months ago?"

"High-Rise, my friend, you do not keep your head in the news, do you?"

Glory watched as the arriving group seemed to do a sweep of the area, putting down any straggling Synths, before they made their way towards them. Sure enough, she recognized their ridiculous-looking uniforms, and that alone was enough to convince her to keep her minigun down. "Just what the hell are the Minutemen doing out this far?" she muttered, keeping her grip tight.

"Sorry if you got caught in that blast- we didn't realize you guys would be so close by," One of the men spoke as the group drew closer. "Abraham Finch. The General sent us here- said she had some people here who needed the extra hands. I can only go off the assumption that that would be you guys."

She had to bite back the sense of surprise in her voice. "The General?" Glory repeated, before she slowly looked over to Deacon. "Charmer did this?"

"I can't fucking believe this," Deacon started, laughing to himself as he corrected his sunglasses, before he lightly slapped her on the arm. "Come on, I mean, we were just talking to her, acting all melancholy about this ordeal, and she... she- Christ, my friends, your timing here could not have been any more perfect," he continued, as he stepped forward and quickly grabbed Abraham by the hand, giving it several heavy shakes.

"What the hell was that explosion anyways?" High-Rise questioned.

"Artillery," Abraham replied, "didn't think it would reach this far out, but I guess the wind was with us."

Alright, so... the Synths on this end were completely wiped out, which meant that there was no way they could be cut off now. And with a full evacuation already filled, everyone was out of here and tucked away in safety. The only thing they had to worry about now was whether or not the Old North Church had been hit.

... But for now, Glory let her shoulders relax for a bit. "I... I can't believe this- where's the General now?"

"She and a couple of boys are at Diamond City right now," he answered. "We just got word from the Castle though that she pulled off the siege successfully and deflected the Institute attack."

Charmer split her own forces so that she could send some of her men here?

To protect them?

* * *

Nora didn't know what time it was, or how long she had been out when she found herself stirring back awake. Her body still felt heavy, and every inch of her protested movement as she pushed herself up from the arm of the couch- only to roll herself onto her back instead. One hand clumsily rubbed at her eyes, urging them to open while the rest of her tried to fall back to sleep.

Her eyes did open though, only to focus on a blurred face standing over her.

She gasped as she felt herself physically jump at the sight, and somewhat scramble to push herself up. It only took about two seconds for her vision to clear up enough for her to realize who she was staring at- in which she collapsed against the back of the couch with a groan; one hand clutching at her chest. "Jesus, Nat, you're going to give me a heart attack."

The girl merely shrugged, and stepped back. "Piper asked me to check on you."

... Right.

This was Piper's house.

Nora nodded and briefly looked around for a clock or something that might tell her the time- only see nothing that might help her. "What time is it? How long have I been asleep?"

"I dunno."

"Thanks Nat, you're a real big help."

A quiet laugh nearby hinted at a third party member, and Nora turned her head just enough to see Ellie in the chair adjacent to the couch- it looked as though it had been pulled up closer. "It's about eight now, so you've been out for... five hours, maybe? Give or take a few minutes," she answered, as she seemed focused on the dark-blue coat in her lap; her hands gently stitching up one of the holes in the sleeve. "You were out like a rock too."

Christ, she hoped she didn't go into the deep-slumber snoring fit she normally did.

"Five is pretty long though," Nora mused, as she rolled her legs onto the floor, before she leaned forward to stand- groaning as the motion brought out the kinks in her lower back and hips. "Longer than I'm used to sleeping anyways."

"Well I'm going to assume you and your boys are gonna stay in the city over night," Ellie spoke, as she tied off her stitch and held the jacket up for inspection, before she moved to work on the next hole. "The couch will always be here. Or, you could sleep in the spare bed we have down in the office- it might be a little more comfortable."

"Or I could take Nat's bed," Nora replied.

"I don't think so."

She chuckled lightly at the sharp response, before she took a few steps around the room to get the blood pumping back into her legs. She was painfully aware of how heavy her footsteps sounded against the creaky floorboards. "Thanks for working on the coat, Ellie- I know it's not in the best of shape."

"Hey, no problem, I have to fix Nick's coat all the time- and you want to see some real wear-and-tear," Ellie assured. "Oh, by the way, Preston got up and left about half an hour ago. He got a called on his radio, and left to go answer it; it sounded pretty important too if you ask me- not that I was eavesdropping of course."

Nora paused for a moment, realizing now that she didn't even notice the man missing when she woke up.

Not to mention, her curiosity over what the call might've been about... Hopefully it was Abraham's and Blake's teams checking in with the Castle. "Okay, thanks, I'll go see if I can't catch him," Nora spoke, before she headed out the door.

It was fairly dark out with the exception of the stadium lights shining on overhead.

The city was still dreadfully quiet, and there was hardly anyone in the streets, or at their market stalls. Well, with the exception of Takahashi at the Noodle stand, who was actually quite busy serving a couple of her men.

With hope, they would have a quiet night, and that would be the end of the Institute attacks- but she could only hope and pray.

"Oh, good to see you're up again, Blue," Piper called to her, as she swiveled around on her stool at Takahashi's stand before she hopped off and started towards her. "Hope you don't mind, but I've been interviewing some of your boys to get a better picture of everything that's been going on around here. And let me just say, a lot of them couldn't stop talking about you, you know."

Nora smiled at the comment, and rubbed the back of her neck. "How flattering," she mused, "but they're obligated to talk nice about me; I'm the General."

"Very funny," Piper playfully scoffed, as she lightly socked Nora on the arm. "I got enough goods to get a weeks worth of news out- but I would love a second interview when you got the time."

"Don't you worry, Piper, when this all over, and everything plays out the way it should, you're going to have a hell of a story," Nora assured. "But first, have you seen Preston? Ellie said he got a call on the radio, and I really need to know what it was. I got a couple of loose units out there that were supposed to report back when they could- I just want to make sure they're all right before I settle in for the night."

"I got you," she nodded. "I think he was headed down to the DugOut Inn the last time I saw him- probably to check in on your boys there."

"Thanks," Nora replied, patting her once on the shoulder, before she headed off that way. She made her way across the marketplace and down the far, right alleyway- knowing it would take her straight to the DugOut Inn. Her heart was already racing as she tried to figure out what the call backs might've been about; she had her sights set on all good news, but there was absolutely no telling.

She ended up running into him as he made his way back towards her.

"Hey, what are you doing up already?" Preston questioned. "I figured you would be out for the rest of the night."

"I could ask you that same thing," she replied. "Ellie told me you got a message on the radio. Did one of our teams report back, or did something happen?"

"No, no, everything's fine," he assured, as he moved one hand to her shoulder, squeezing it briefly in support. "In fact, I got a response back from Abraham Finch, who informed me that they had successfully driven off the Institute Synths by Ticonderoga. And that, after speaking to the people there, apparently everyone had evacuated beforehand, so there were no casualties."

Nora could've dropped to the ground in relief right then and there.

Instead, she gave out a heavy, relieved sigh and leaned in against him, loosely wrapping her arms around him. "Thank God," she whispered, "that's one less thing to worry about then."

"And, on top of that, Blake Abernathy just called in a few minutes ago as well," Preston continued. "They just finished clearing out the old historical district, and so far, there's been no more Institute sightings. The only issue is that Dogmeat decided to stay back with a blonde-haired woman with a loud gun- and that she said that the General would know where to go in order to get him back."

Nora quietly laughed at the news; she had told Dogmeat to stay with Desdemona, but... the Railroad leader didn't exactly know that. "I can't believe everything worked out," she whispered, as she buried her head into his shoulder.

"You said it yourself that it was either them, or us," he reminded.

"I know, but... you know that didn't mean shit."

* * *

"You should really try to cut back on the smoking."

Desdemona chose to ignore the advice as she lit up what might've been her eighth cigarette in two hours. Might've been more, might've been less- she wasn't exactly keeping count of the stubbed out butts that littered the floor around her.

"You should cut back on the unsolicited advice," she replied, musing over the silence of the room as the first breath of smoke escaped her lips. A quiet whine caught her attention and she looked down to the dog that was somewhat curled next to her. Not out of comfort, or loyalty, but... he had gotten tired of pacing the small, underground room and eventually settled with the worn down rug under her chair.

She heard Carrington give off an irritated sigh, and watched as he went back to tending the wounded- as minorly injured as they were. They were anticipating Institute forces, although they knew there would be too many. As long as their safe houses were out of danger, the church was a reasonable loss. Of course, the synths hit sooner than anticipated, but... they were able to stand their ground for the most part.

...

What they hadn't been anticipating however, was the battle assist.

She could only assume Charmer was somehow behind it- although she wasn't certain of how. Glory and Deacon had made the warning runs earlier, and both mentioned something about catching Charmer with the impending information if they could.

She had heard about the Castle.

And didn't think there was much that could've been done in the aftermath- God knows they had been through that situation plenty of times before. But... there was apparently something with the Minutemen getting knocked down, only to rise stronger than before.

All while Charmer lead the charge and pulled the strings.

Desdemona briefly glanced up as Carrington sat down next to her; his body was still tense, hands still shaking, but... he looked to be the most relaxed she had ever seen him. Especially after something like this.

"Could've been another Switchboard," he remarked.

"Could've been, but wasn't."

"Barely."

She nodded, giving him that much. "Barely," Desdemona agreed, "at least we would've had Deacon and Glory to carry on the operation."

He gave a brisk, half-assed laugh, and brushed his hand across his forehead. "They would sink the operation," he corrected.

That much she doesn't argue.


	4. Old North Church

They stayed the night in Diamond City for good measure- as well as at the insistence of the people.

It was too late to get back to the Castle before dark anyways, and Lord knew they could all use a full night's sleep for once; although they were careful to sleep in shifts so at least a handful of people were on guard. Nora tried to pull her weight and be present during one of the shifts, but ended up nodding off at some point during the night. She woke up on Piper's couch again around two in the morning, and decided to just not fight it.

She tried to be a good leader- tried to treat herself like she treated her men, but... even she had limits.

This whole situation was wearing her down thin, and fast.

At the very least, she was up again by nine the next morning and got herself looking right and proper for the trip home. Dr. Sun insisted that she keep the paste on her cheek on for one more night, but she had caught herself already picking at it. She was certain the injury was healed up enough, mainly because she could run her tongue along the freshly fused skin on the inside of her cheek, but... she did her best to abide by the doctor's orders. At least until she was out of his eyesight.

Her jacket was looking good again thanks to Ellie's handiwork and careful cleaning; she'd have to pay the woman back somehow when she got the chance.

Straightening herself out, Nora did one more look over in Piper's cracked bathroom mirror before she headed out of the house and embraced the new, Synth-free day ahead of her.

Some of her Minutemen were already out helping repair the damages around the city.

People could say what they wanted to about the Minutemen, but she'd be damned if they weren't good with their hands. They all shared the same technical skills, the reward for joining rank, and could whip together a settlement out of nowhere. And right now, those handy skills were being put to use in repairing broken market stalls, and pipe lines around the city. Something she was certain Shang would be glad about.

Other Minutemen, however, were playing kickball in the street with some of the children- slowly helping to ease them back into a life of normalcy.

"So, anything new that I should know about?"

Nora chuckled lightly- not surprised that Piper had managed to get her right as she walked out. More than likely the woman was coming in to check on her anyways- or at least to make sure she was still breathing. "Well, every one of my counter attacks came out successful yesterday," she answered. "So, all in all, we defended the Castle, and Diamond City, aided the Railroad, and destroyed a good supply of the Institute's army. Which isn't a bad haul. I don't see them attacking again any time soon now that we've got them in a bad spot."

"Can I quote you on that?" Piper teased.

"You can hold me to it," Nora assured. "For now though, I need to head back to the Castle, and regroup. And I need to check in with the Railroad and meet with them person to person- make sure everyone's accounted for, you know. If you want, I can leave some of my men behind for added protection if you think it'll be good for the city."

"I think the people would really appreciate it- the kids too. They've been running around all morning," she started, watching as both Nina and Pete ran by- both of them wearing a Minutemen hat. And not too far behind them seemed to be the women whose hats they belonged to. Piper smiled at the sight, before she turned her attention back to Nora. "I don't think this city's ever going to be able to repay you guys for what you did for us yesterday."

Nora smiled in return, and fiddled with the collar of her jacket. "We're not looking to be repaid," she spoke. "We're just... trying to keep the hope going, and keep the Commonwealth alive."

"Believe me, everyone here is grateful for that," Piper nodded, as she moved one hand to pat Nora on the shoulder, before she lightly squeezed it. "So then, back on the road again?"

"Yeah, unfortunately," Nora chuckled. "I'll call you if anything interesting happens."

"I'll be waiting with bated breath, Blue."

It took Nora awhile to round up her men and separate them from the children- although several of them ended up in attendance to her meeting anyways. It was a volunteer offer for those who wanted to stay and guard the city, but more people took her up on it than she expected. She ended up leaving half of her group behind- a full unit of fourteen men and women.

But again, it couldn't hurt to be safe.

The remaining unit packed up their things and headed out- staring the long journey back to the Castle.

It was a quiet walk back, but it was hard to ignore the extra bounce in everyone's steps. It was hard to forget about the chaos from yesterday, but also remember that they had been victorious and had pulled off the impossible. They had pulled together and had prevented another University Point; they had saved dozens of people- not to mention, saved the Commonwealth's hope in the fight against the Institute.

For now, they could let the power go to their heads.

"You heard what Dr. Sun said."

Nora froze at the words, before she slowly looked over at Preston who was walking to her left. He was looking ahead, but she knew he could see her- so there was no point in trying to deny his accusation. Not to mention, she still had her fingers half picking at the thick paste. "I can't help it," she replied, as she dropped her hand back to her side. "It's itchy, and it smells, okay?"

He chuckled lightly at what could've been perceived as her whining over the situation. "It's not gonna heal if you keep picking at it," he insisted.

"It could."

"Trust me, it's not."

She couldn't help but to laugh at his insistent tone, before she decided to follow his order. He probably had the same thing done to him once or twice before, so he had experience that she couldn't compete against. So she had no leg to stand on in terms of arguing it with him- she never did, although she still tried from time to time. She was gaining her own experiences, and soon enough she'd be able to put up a fight.

Just not today.

And not over her bloody cheek- unfortunately.

Nora looked up as the old D.B. Technical High School came into view, and knew that they were about halfway back to the Castle now. All they had to do was get past the school, take the highway south and then take the west exit, and they would be home in two hours or so.

Two hours of walking sounded pretty unfortunate, but during the pre-war times it used to take four hours to get off of this highway- and that was while driving. There was nothing more frustrating that being a couple yards from the exit and being stuck bumper-to-bumper for the next hour and a half.

Quite possibly the one thing that Nora certainly did not miss: traffic.

...

But if she took the highway north...

Nora stopped as the idea slowly came to her, and followed what she could see of the highway from where she stood. It was a wreckage of what it used to be, but it still held up pretty well- and one could travel along it to certain destinations and never get lost, which was nice. It was a suitable landmark for when she needed one, and right now... it was leading her somewhere else.

"Something wrong?" Preston questioned, picking up on her sudden stillness.

She looked over to him and then back to the highway- the idea now running rabid in her head. Slowly, Nora turned to face him, and loosely crossed her arms; the group around them seemed to take the signal as a short break and stopped to fetch the bottles of water from their bags. "Can I tell you an idea I just had?"

"I'm listening."

There was no judgment in his tone, which was something she appreciated.

"I know everyone's going to be expecting me back at the Castle, and everyone wants to see my return, but..." she started, already feeling a hint of guilt turning over in her stomach. "If I take the highway north from here, I can hit the historical district within the same amount of time, and... I can check in on the Railroad."

Preston didn't seem the least bit surprised by her change of plans. "I understand that you're worried about them," he nodded. "You got put into a pretty tough situation regarding them and their safety, and I know how relieved you were when they called in that they were okay. So if you want to head that way now, I would encourage it. We got ourselves covered from here."

She sighed in relief before she put her arms around him, pressing herself against his chest. "Thanks. Just make sure everyone gets back to the Castle safely, alright? And tell Ronnie I'll be there soon- maybe by tonight, or tomorrow at the latest. I'm not gonna keep her waiting."

He chuckled lightly and rubbed her back with one hand. "Hey, you are the General, you can technically do whatever you want. You're the one who should be cautioned to be safe though. The Institute might still be out there watching- and if they see you by yourself-"

"I'll be fine- I promise."

And so, after a brief speech to her remaining unit, Nora took the highway leading north and hurried along the ruined structure on her own.

It would be a long, quiet journey, but as long as she went out of her way to avoid any areas hot with Raiders, she would be okay. She would travel faster, and be stealthier by herself anyways- and be a much harder target to hit.

Still... after traveling with a group for a few days, she felt a little too vulnerable by herself. She very rarely traveled without Preston next to her, but one of them had to make it back to the Castle to report to Ronnie. Or else the Commonwealth would have to face her wrath, and they had just barely survived the Institute's.

Hell, she didn't even had Dogmeat with her, who was a close second to always being at her side; but now she was thinking that was only because Preston was with her.

Hopefully though, the canine would be curled up next to Desdemona- probably irritating the woman with his insistent whining.

* * *

The streets leading to and surrounding the Old North Church were filled with destroyed Synths and bullet casings.

Nora would've been worried had she not have known that it all turned out well enough- had she not noticed the laser musket burns on most of the Synths. Or the gaping hole in others that registered that some kind of high-powered weapon had blown through their chest chassis like it was nothing. She made a mental note to ask Desdemona if she could just do a test fire with her Gauss Rifle, just to see what it was like.

Making her way through the carnage-filled streets, Nora ducked into the ruined pre-war church and then into the catacombs. Despite knowing that it was all well, she still felt her heart in her throat the entire time- both out of anticipation and sheer joy.

...

She wanted to see everyone again- wanted to see them alive and well.

Ever since Glory and Deacon had stopped by the Castle, and she saw the look of desolation on their faces... she just wanted to make them safe again. She wanted them to feel secure, and invincible against Institute attacks. She wanted to ease their minds, and erase the possibilities of another Switchboard. The Commonwealth was a cesspool of things that went wrong with Mankind.

The Minutemen was a cause that was helping to correct that, and she had helped pull them out from the fire.

The Railroad had a good heart and good intentions regarding the safety of escaped Synths... she had to help them too.

And the only way she knew how to do that was with steel knees and a shotgun.

Squeezing her way through the narrow corridors, Nora minded her footing on the loose dirt below as she made her way towards the end of the catacombs. It was good to see that this place was free of bullet casings at least- which meant that the Institute never made it down here. They never got the chance to get this close.

Inputting the code into the false door, she slipped between the crack as soon as it was open enough to fit her and hurried in. But she paused slightly as she stepped in through the front entrance, and looked at the small stairs and ledge that resided in front of her.

She vaguely recalled a scene that had occurred here not all too long ago.

* * *

 _Her heart was in her throat the entire time she navigated the catacombs, gunning down any feral ghouls who might've gotten in her way. The hallways were so tight, she could easily get ambushed and ripped apart if she wasn't careful. It only made her more nervous as she kept her back to the wall and slowly slid her way through the winding corridors; it was beginning to feel more like a maze than anything else._

 _Her hands shook as she came upon the moving puzzle and carefully inputed the code- flinching as the wall next to her slid open to reveal another hallway._

 _Nora only had the word of Dr. Amari to assure her that this was the right place... But the more she traveled downward into dust and skeletons, the more she was beginning to doubt the woman. Hell, even the doctor wasn't entirely certain of where to find these people, so what the hell was she thinking?_

 _No. They had to be here- she had to have faith that they were._

 _Everything was pitch black in front of her- even her Pip-Boy was having a hard time cutting through it, which wasn't good. There could be another feral ghoul a foot or so in front of her and she still wouldn't be able to see it._

 _But Nora swallowed her nerves and pushed forward anyways._

 _She could do this- she had to._

 _She barely hit the end of the short hallway before a bright light suddenly hit her- blinding her almost immediately. Nora gasped in surprised and brought one arm up to shield her face, feeling the familiar burn in her eyes. Just like when she rose out of the vault, dark and desolate, and into the burning, afternoon sun. She was surprised such a sharp contrast back then hadn't blinded her permanently._

 _The light was enough to stop her in her tracks._

 _"Stop right there."_

 _Nora froze at the voice, feeling every inch of her sweating now as her brain seemed desperate to take the flight option already. But she had been in this godforsaken wasteland long enough to stand her ground- not enough to be an expert, but enough to know what to expect. As long as she followed the simple command, no one here had to die- not yet at least._

 _She slowly peeked over her arm and looked at the blurry image of a woman standing on a ledge a few yards in front of her. The woman wasn't dressed like any Raider or Gunner she had seen before- or even like a mercenary of some kind; she looked like the average civilian, like she could be strolling around Diamond City and never bring a blink of suspicion to herself._

 _... Had she come to the wrong place after all?_

 _To her relief, the light was cut and the room was filled with a more natural lighting- one that didn't threaten to burn her retinas. Nora blinked a few times to clear her sight before she dropped her arm completely- freezing as she noticed the two guards standing on either side of the woman._

 _On the right, was a man in blue holding a pistol._

 _And on the left, was a dark-skinned woman... holding a minigun._

 _The hair on the back of Nora's neck stood up as she realized that she was both outnumbered and out-bulleted. Suddenly the shotgun in hand, the same one that had been keeping her alive up until now, felt useless._

 _"What are you doing here? And how did you find us?" the blonde-woman in front of her demanded, arms crossed and voice stiff._

 _It took Nora awhile to find her own voice amongst the fear._

 _"I was told that... you could help me," she started, slow and out of breath._

 _The woman narrowed her eyes before she shook her head. "I'm sorry, but we're not that kind of organization. Now how did you find us?"_

 _"Dr. Amari from Goodneighbor told me to 'follow the Railroad' and that that was how I could find you," Nora continued, deciding to stick to the truth, before her nerves crumbled and got the best of her. "She said you guys dealt with the Institute- they took my son, and I need to get him back. She said that you could help me."_

 _"Listen, I'm sorry, I am, but... there's nothing we can do right now-"_

 _No no no._

 _She didn't come all this way for nothing!_

 _"No, please- listen, I can't take no as an answer," Nora objected, stepping forward like she was going to stop the woman from leaving; she only caused the guards to get nervous though and raise their guns a little higher. "I'm from a vault, okay? I was frozen for two hundred years- I'm not even supposed to be here! The Institute unfroze and killed my husband, and then stole my son. I'm trying to find him- I know they have him. Look, I found a man who could help me; I had to travel all the way through the Glowing Sea to meet him, but he said... Virgil_ _said-" her voice was cracking, and her words were slurring together. Nora was fully aware of how incoherent and hysterical she sounded right now, but she couldn't control it._

 _Her fingers fumbled nervously through her pockets- desperately trying to find the one thing she hope would convince them to help her. They were her only lead right now, and she couldn't get them on her side... she would be back to square one._

 _"Dez," the man started, nervousness in his voice, as he gripped her gun a little tighter now._

 _Where was it?_

 _Where did she put it?_

 _Here- here it was!_

 _Nora pulled the still bloodied, and tissue covered device from her pocket and held it out- hoping it would make sense to them. "Look, he said that if I got a Courser chip then I could get into the Institute and get my son. And I got one, okay? I had to break open a man's skull to get it, I had to dig it out with my bare hands- but I got it. Virgil said it would help, that I could tap into the frequency and hack into some kind of relay, I don't know. I don't know how this damn thing works- and Dr. Amari said that you did. She said you could figure this out and help me. Now please... tell me you can do this- tell me you can help me."_

 _"You... got a Courser Chip?" the woman questioned, to which Nora nodded. "That puts her up against you already, Glory... This changes everything."_

 _It suddenly felt like she had the world's greatest bargaining chip in her hand- and that suddenly things were turning out right for her. It was just one small step right now, and there were no guarantees, but it was better than nothing._ _"So can you help me, or not?" Nora pressed._

 _"... Yes."_

* * *

Looking back on it now, Nora wondered if they thought she was just a hysterical, lost cause of a woman.

But back then she didn't know- she didn't know what she would find at the Institute.

She found Shaun, yes. And he had been the only reason she kept running through the Commonwealth, desperately doing whatever she had to to get information on his whereabouts. He had been the only reason she didn't give up immediately and become another lost victim to this desolate place.

But at what cost?

...

She wondered how everyone would react if they knew that the person behind their suffering, the person behind Switchboard... was the very child she had been looking for. The only reason she had hooked up with the Railroad in the first place, the only reason she gone to the Institute in the first place.

The very child she had given birth to was nothing more than the Commonwealth's monster.

The same one who had been trying to kill her for two days now.

Nora tried to push the sick feeling down, and put it behind her, as she hurried up the stairs and headed towards the heavy metal door hidden in the back corridor. Her hands were shaking as she pulled the door open, before she stopped to listen- hearing the faint sound of chattering below. She was barely through the door before she heard Drummer Boy announce her.

"Hey, Charmer's back!"

She didn't want to say that she swore she heard cheering at the announcement of her codename- didn't want to admit to the grin that immediately came to her lips either. Each step down the staircase was a little hard to take with how badly her legs were shaking.

"Desdemona!" Nora started, only barely reaching the bottom of the steps before she caught the black and brown blur that came at her. She felt Dogmeat hit her full force in the gut, knocking her feet out from underneath her and toppling her to the ground below. She hit the floor hard, knocking the breath out of her lungs, but she still managed a few wheezed laughs as she felt Dogmeat licking at her face- tail whipping wildly at her legs. "Oh, so _NOW_ you want to be happy to see me," she mused, as she raised her hands to pat at his thick neck.

"Ah, the Institute's greatest nemesis taken down by the uncommon Commonwealth dog."

"Oh, fuck you, Deacon," Nora replied, as she barely managed to roll Dogmeat off of her before she started to her feet- only to feel someone else hoist her up, and off of her feet, much to her own surprise.

"You're fucking crazy, Charmer, but I think that's what makes you fit in so well," Glory grinned, her arms wrapped around Nora's waist as she kept her suspended a few inches off of the ground. "What the hell were you thinking sending your guys across the Commonwealth for us? You just about gave High-Rise a heart attack when that first artillery round hit."

Nora wanted to both laugh and cry in response, but managed just the laugh this time. She heard Dogmeat whining and watched as he hopped around Glory- desperate for her attention again. "Don't make me get all sappy on you," Nora replied, as she looked across the small room, and smiled at the agents who were gathered around; she could count every person and every name. "Let's just... celebrate the now, alright?"

"Cop out," Glory teased, before she set her on her feet.

Nora barely got to recenter her balance before she felt Deacon sweep her up in his arms next- once more catching her by surprise. "You're not planning on passing me around all night, are you?"

"Hey, the Destroyer of the Institute and Guardian of the Railroad does not touch the ground," he insisted, as he practically paraded her around the room- to the scattered clapping from some of the agents. Nora felt her face run flush and covered it with her hands- laughing behind her palms. "How about we get a drink for our savior here? We can afford a little common courtesy."

"I'll gladly take the drink, but please let me talk to Desdemona first," Nora insisted.

"As you wish, m'lady."

Maybe she should've just reported back to the Castle with the others instead.

Nora highly doubted they would've hoisted her up and crowd surfed her around the Castle- well, actually, on second thought she wouldn't go that far just yet.

She felt Deacon take the long way around the room, before he deposited her in front of Desdemona, who looked surprisingly amused by the whole thing. Nora offered a smile as Deacon placed her down on the stone coffin in the center of room. "So... I take it everything went well?"

"It went better than well," Desdemona replied. "We owe you, Charmer."

"Hey, I wouldn't be where I am without you guys- it was the least that I could do."

* * *

"Should've figured she'd go off on some other business."

Preston chuckled lightly at Ronnie's irritated tone, but knew the woman meant well. "She's a busy woman, Ronnie; she's got a lot of people she's looking out for, and she wants to make sure they're safe. And she wants to see them with her own eyes. You know damn well that's the making of a responsible leader."

Ronnie lit the end of her cigarette and offered a shrug. "Considering what she's done so far for us, can't really complain," she replied, before she waved him forward. "Come on, let's get your men taken care of and settled back in until the General returns. Lord knows what she has up her sleeves for what's coming next, so we might as well buckle down and prepare."

Despite the General's absence, they had made it back to the Castle by late afternoon, and were greeted with a chorus of cheers and applause. It was something nice to come home to, as Minutemen alike patted one another on the back and asked how the city siege went. Those men and women who were injured in the Castle ambush were up and walking again- all in suitable health once more.

Morale was at it's highest.

For now, they could take in the glory of once more being the saviors of the Commonwealth.

"That reminds me, Garvey," Ronnie spoke. "There's a stacked bronto who stopped by earlier asking about you and the General. He made some kind of remark about being able to fix the walls and infrastructure of the Castle, but that he had business with the two of you that needed to be taken care of first."

Preston narrowed his eyes slightly at the odd word choice. "Stacked bronto?" he repeated- hoping he had misheard the woman.

"All he said was that he knew you and that he had information that you and the General might want to hear," Ronnie remarked. "I stuck him in the armory for you if you want to see what kind of case he's trying to make."

He nodded and excused himself as he cut back across the courtyard towards the opened armory. He tried to think of who it might be that Ronnie was referring to, but... no one was coming to mind. It might be someone directly looking for just Nora, but it wouldn't hurt for him to check in and see who it was anyways. Nora said she would be back either by tonight or early tomorrow, so the least he could do was inform them of that.

Stepping into the cool wing of the Castle, he headed through the short hallway and pushed aside the door leading into the single room armory- stopping when he noticed the dark-haired, overall-wearing man.

"Sturges?" Preston questioned, causing the man to look up from one of the many boxes of scrapped pieces lying around.

"Well I'll be damned, hey brother," the man replied, as he set aside one of the metal plates he had been inspecting. "You and the boss must keep pretty busy around here. You guys have got some good looking scrap- you two have been holding out on me."

If there was one thing that Sturges and Nora had in common, it was their love of picking up all sorts of things- from broken lamps, to every box of industrial cleaner. He tried not to be too bothered by it, after all they had made some pretty useful things from the scrap. But that didn't mean he had forgotten about how Nora had once spent an entire hour combing through a building looking for just _one_ typewriter. Only to find three of them in the dumpster outside.

Still, the man's presence here was surprising.

"How did you get here?" Preston questioned. "It's been real dangerous these past couple of days, and I know you couldn't have made that kind of trip by yourself; you're no good in a fight."

Sturges offered a brief laugh and nodded as he brushed his hands off on his jeans. "Yeah, that may be true, but all this activity has really stirred up the Minutemen. Some of them were passing by Sanctuary, doing some extra rounds, and said they were headed towards the Castle since you called for reinforcements. Well, I decided to tag along, and here I am. Thankfully, we didn't run into much- would've hated to tell them that these muscles are just part of my good looks, and nothing else. Hey, where's the boss at anyways? I got something important I need to tell her."

"She went north to check on the Railroad," he answered. "She'll be back by tonight, or tomorrow at the latest, if you can wait."

"I'm not sure if this can wait," Sturges replied. "Look, I've been listening in on the radio, and in on all the commotion you've been making with the Institute. They've been real active as of lately, so I decided to look over those files she got for me from the one of their computers- you know, to see if I could find something new. And... I think I found something that she might want to know about."

"What is it?"

* * *

"You should've seen it, Dez- I mean, rocket's red glare for sure."

Nora laughed at the way Desdemona rolled her eyes at Deacon's monologue as he detailed the battle of Ticonderoga. To her, it was the first time she had heard it, and it sounded intense- she was glad Abraham and his men got there when they did.

But judging from Desdemona's look of exasperation, this could've been the sixth, or seventh time Deacon had recited the story. And more than likely, each time got more and more elaborate than the last- with no interjections from Glory for once. So there was no telling if Nora was actually hearing the truth of the matter, but at this point she didn't really mind. Everyone got out safe and sound, that was all that she was concerned about.

"I'm telling ya, Dez, we need some serious artillery like that," Glory spoke, leaning back in her chair; a lukewarm glass of vodka in one hand. "I mean, could you imagine what we could do with it? We could clear routes in no time."

"Knowing you two, you'd blow yourselves up with it," Carrington interjected.

And Nora laughed again; her spirits were high, and her stomach was mostly filled with alcohol by this point. Just a small, little celebration to honor her, and their multiple victories over the Institute. It was enough to put her into better spirits, and distract her mind from the constant stress and mayhem she had been dealing with in the past few days. It was nice to put her feet up and forget about the world outside.

To forget about the Institute and Shaun for just a little while.

"Charmer, my lovely Charmer, you've been too quiet. You should tell us how you got that righteous scar on your face- and please, don't skimp on the details," Deacon urged, half-seated on the rounded coffin that everyone was gathered around.

She snorted and touched briefly at the raw tissue.

She had gone ahead and picked off the paste, revealing a dark-red scar that was setting in. It was still tender though, a little too raw to have been exposed so soon; she really should've listened to Preston, but she just... she couldn't resist. And she knew the man would call her out on it later, and she wouldn't have a leg to stand on in defense.

"I got shot by a Courser," Nora started. "End of story."

"We need to work on your story-telling skills."

"Yeah, Deacon, story-telling skills- not _lying_ skills," Glory reminded, as she elbowed the man in the ribs- hard enough to almost knock him off of the coffin. "I've been shot by Coursers plenty of times, Charmer; it'll be a nice addition to your growing scar collection."

"Thanks Glory, it'll fit in right next to my grease-fire burn, and the infamous lawn-mower accident," Nora teased, as she briefly gestured to her two other notable facial scars; with the way they were adding up, she was going to end up looking like a war criminal rather than a pre-war lawyer. Her friends had always been worried about how she would be perceived in the courtroom with them, but she herself had never given them a second thought; and looked like now she was right in doing so. "I'm just glad you guys were able to get the intel on Diamond City. We would've lost a lot of people in that siege, and the Commonwealth as well." Nora paused as the words circulated around in her head, before she held up her half-empty glass. "So... here's one for the Patriot, whoever he may be."

"And here's one for the Minutemen," Deacon started, raising his own glass, "who truly are protecting the people at a minute's notice."

"And one for Charmer- even though she can't dodge a bullet," Glory added.

Nora laughed, before she lead everyone into the short toast- downing her drink in one go. The Bourbon went down bitter and smooth- and reminded her that if she wanted to get back to the Castle on time tomorrow, she needed to cut herself off somewhere. The last thing she needed was to try and deal with Ronnie while her half-sober ass was dealing with a hangover.

She didn't foresee it going well.

And that was if she even made it back to the Castle in the first place.

"Hey, I hate to rain on everyone's parade, but... someone's coming down here," Drummer Boy started, already working his way back towards the staircase- one hand perched on the holstered gun at his hip.

...

Who would be coming though?

The Institute couldn't be a possibility, and she highly doubted that the Brotherhood even knew where they were to begin with. And it wasn't like Raiders frequented this area all that much either.

Still, Nora felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as she slowly got to her feet as well. One hand reached for her shotgun, only to remember that she had set it aside on the desk behind her instead- just a little out of reach.

"Maybe it's finally Swan, coming back for revenge," Deacon whispered.

"Deacon, in a few seconds, it's going to be my foot-"

Drummer Boy was at the foot of the stairs by the time the door at the top squeaked opened- and any sense of tension in his body eased away. "Oh, uh... Charmer, one of your guys is here."

Nora shot him a questioning look at the announcement- wondering who exactly could've followed her here. Only Preston knew that she had gone this way, and he was back at the Castle with Ronnie. Not to mention it was well dark by now, which made it a little dangerous for one person to travel alone- especially on these streets.

And yet, she watched as Preston came down the stairs and into sight.

He looked slightly out of breath, as though he had been in a rush to get here. The man never came out here before though, and only knew the Railroad was here because had had told him once or twice before. So... what exactly would cause him to come out here to find her?

And why didn't he just call- right, she kept her radio off when she was down here. It was just a precaution, but considering the reception in the catacombs was pretty bad as it was, it might've seemed useless to do. And considering how things had been going as of lately, it might've been smarter for her to have kept her radio on. Just in case.

... Oh God.

"Preston," Nora started, her mind already jumping to the worst. Did the Castle go under fire again? Had she underestimated the Institute and its endless number of disposable Synths? Did Shaun once more strike at her, hoping to break the final bone in her back? "What happened?"

Was he the only one who was left?

Maybe it went without saying that everyone else was on edge too as they nervously stood around her- awaiting an answer just the same.

But Preston didn't look any bit of stressed, or panicked as she did.

He just took a deep breath before he spoke, hurrying to get the words out.

"Sturges found you another way into the Institute."


	5. CIT Ruins

It was utter silence for what felt like several, long solid minutes.

Nora couldn't say anything- nothing even came to mind.

She just stared at Preston as his words ran over and over again in her head. She kept stumbling over them as she tried to make them make sense- as she tried to understand what exactly it was he was telling her.

It was impossible; it had to be.

The Institute had been terrorizing the Commonwealth for decades now, and no one so much as had a clue as to how to get them. It took until now, through sheer desperation, and the death of Kellogg before they got even the smallest hint of what to do. And that hint grew and grew and grew until Sturges put the final touches on the relay inceptor, until she took the terrifying step into teleportation, until she took the first foreign steps into the Institute.

Only for months of hard work to be wiped out with a single 'no'.

So how the hell was there now a second way in?

And how the hell did he find it so fast?

"Alright well... now I'm sober," Deacon spoke, breaking the silence on his own accord- allowing the atmosphere to finally settle in the room.

"What do you mean?" Nora questioned, as she stepped around the circular coffin and started towards him. "They blocked the signal from our relay interceptor, which was the only way in- the only way anyone has ever figured out, and we just built it a week ago. Are you telling me, in all truth, that there is _another_ way in?"

Preston nodded. "You said it yourself that the Institute lies underneath the old C.I.T. ruins, right?" he questioned, to which Nora nodded. "Sturges has been studying the blueprints he got on that drive you brought back, and he found out that you can access the Institute by physical means. Apparently there's an old water cooling tunnel that used to run into the college, pre-war times, and now the Institute uses it to keep their nuclear reactor stable. Sturges seemed pretty positive that if you follow this tunnel system, it should not only take you back into the Institute, but right back into that relay room."

...

It felt like Nora's head was spinning at the words.

Could this really be happening right now?

Sure, she had trash talked about getting revenge, and leveling the playing field- hell she even told Piper that she could depend on it. But that had all been wasted breath and angry words since she really had no ideas on how to get back in. It made her angry, but it felt good to talk out. Maybe she had been hoping that Shaun would overhear her and realize how badly he fucked up with her.

But this... this changed the game completely.

"... And if I can secure the relay room, I can lift the block," Nora slowly started.

Preston nodded once more, before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small holotape. "And if you put this tape into the Institute computer, you can relay anyone you want inside."

Nora heard herself give out a hard exhale before she sat down on one of the nearby desks for support.

How could it be that... everything she had been desperate for had practically been dropped into her lap right now. And with nearly no direct work from her. For once, it felt like she wasn't the only one kicking up dust and bullets.

"How dangerous is this access point?" she pressed.

"Nothing you can't handle," Preston replied. "You'll have to get your feet wet, so it'll be radiated, but if you medicate yourself ahead of time, you should be fine. As for what you'll run into down there... Sturges said there's little to no Institute activity- maybe just a maintenance bot, which you could easily take out. Maybe a ghoul, or Mirelurk or two, but that'll be it at worst- of course, that's only an assumption. It's hard to say for sure."

"You wouldn't happen to have that information on you... would you?" Tinker Tom asked.

Nora watched as Preston pulled a second holotape, the one she had taken into the Institute with her, before he tossed it to the Tom- who immediately went to work on his computer. "Tom, tell me the exact coordinates to this access point when you can," she spoke, before she turned her attention back to Preston. "Did you really come all this way just to tell me?"

She had told the man that she would be back by tomorrow at the latest...

"You said it yourself that you've been wanting to return the favor," he started, "- and that you didn't want to be talking out the ass about it. I figured you'd want to know something like this as soon as possible. And since you turn your radio off while you're here, I didn't really have any other choice."

"... Thank you."

"Damn, look at all of this good shit on here," Tinker Tom remarked, as he tapped away at his keyboard- drawing a small crowd of Railroad agents around him. "Looks like your man's plan is solid, Charmer- the old water tunnel is just an eighth of a mile from the old C.I.T. ruins. It's completely submerged though, so you'll have to get more than your feet wet- a rad suit would be more appropriate. Can't tell much from these blueprints, but I don't think you'll run into anything more than the old security systems down there. If you've survived everything up until now, I think you'll be fine. Get a couple people down there and-"

"No, it's only going to be me going in," Nora interrupted. "Less noise, less attention."

"That's a little dangerous, Charmer-"

"We may only get this opportunity once, we can't afford to send anymore than necessary down there," Nora insisted, interrupting the man once more. "Look, I'll get in, make my way to the relay, and control everything from there- easy in, easy done. We take the fight to them, and we make them see just how fun it is to defend themselves. They'll be low on numbers, and weak- and we get the ambush advantage this time. I can get my gun and head there right now-"

"Charmer, take it easy and slow it down," Desdemona interrupted, as she got to her feet now- interjecting herself into the conversation. "You said it yourself, we may only get one opportunity with this- we can't afford to rush it. Not to mention, we're not in the position ourselves to deal with something on such short notice- or of this kind of magnitude. We're going to need time."

The woman had a point.

But Nora was stubborn.

"If we give them any more time, they'll regain their lost numbers," she insisted once more. "We need to do damage now, while they have their backs turned and while they're already hurt. I'm done dealing with them- I need to return the favor."

"Jesus, Charmer, what's with the hostility?" Glory pressed. "Look, I know we all have a vendetta against the Institute, and I know that you know I'd be all on board with this- but I'm with Dez on this one; we have got to think this one through. We make one mistake, and we're all dead- and then who's going to fight the boogeyman?" she seemed finished with her speech, before something seemed to click and she carefully added. "I know they have your son, and I know you want him back, but... you gotta give us more time on this. If your son has survived until now, he'll be fine for a few more days at least."

Nora froze at the remark, and caught Preston's eye as he looked to her.

...

She never told them.

She never got the chance to fill them in on everything she had learned at the Institute.

Silence lingered from her end, which only seemed to make the rest of the room anxious.

"... Charmer?" Glory questioned. "Look, I didn't mean to have you think that we didn't care about your son, we do- we just-"

"There is no Shaun," Nora interrupted, before she slowly turned back to face the group she had been drinking with just moments before. "There's only Father, Head of the Institute. A sixty-year old man who sees me as nothing more than a pet project; an old man who only knows me through scattered, childhood fantasies of what might've been- of who we might've been together."

And again, silence.

Stiff and suffocating.

"Charmer..." Desdemona started, slow at first, speaking with a hushed tone Nora hadn't heard before. "What exactly are you saying? I don't want to jump to conclusions on this, but it sounds like-"

"Shaun controls the Institute," she answered. "The only thing that's been keeping me going in this world was my son, my baby. He was the only reason I came to you guys in first place- the only reason I've done everything I have up until now, no matter how revolting. And yet... my son has been hunting you down; he's the one who gave the orders for Switchboard, the one who's been sending Coursers after you." she stopped long enough to regain and strengthen her voice. "When we met in the Institute, he asked me to join him, and I turned him down. And in retaliation, he destroyed the Castle, tried to destroy Diamond City, and tried to take you out once again. He tried to kill me- tried to wipe me out, and destroy the source of all of his 'what if' fantasies. I'm nothing to him now that he knows I won't provide him with anything. His father, my husband, Nate, was collateral damage, and now I'm just a target he can keep shooting at." she sighed and moved to knit her hands over the back of her neck. "This is my fault, okay? And right now, the only way I can rectify everything is by blowing his damn Institute sky-high. And now I have the means to do so, so please... just let me do this."

It was a lot to take in, and maybe she had said too much.

But who else was she supposed to air out her grievances to?

She had laid it all out to Ronnie before, and Preston had been the first person to know once she was kicked out.

Everything about this situation had been cumulating as a tight knot in her stomach, and until this whole thing was over with, she would be carrying this guilt with her. Until she made things right again... she was responsible for everyone who had fallen to the Institute's knife.

"Alright, Charmer, I see you," Glory nodded, before she clapped her hands, and rubbed them together- taking a look around the room as she did so. "Let's buckle down and figure out what we're going to do about this then. We've been daydreaming about a day like this for years now, people, let's get our heads into this one. As it's been said before, we get one shot- let's not fuck it up."

"If you're going to head into the tunnels by yourself, than we'll have to wait until you hit the relay room," Deacon spoke. "And since the return relay only works if you got a Courser Chip, more than likely, we're going to have to hijack that interceptor that you built."

"The one we built in Sanctuary," Preston finished. "Which means if we gather additional forces, we'll have to take them there."

Good, good, the conversation was going.

Plans were being made.

And despite everyone probably still being a little tipsy, they could come up with something to work with.

"We'll want to evacuate Sanctuary then, just in case," Nora spoke. "I don't want Mama Murphy, or Marcy, or Jun getting caught up in this. The Abernathy's farm is the closest to Sanctuary, so we can move them there for the time being. Sturges will have to stay though. Preston, when you get back to the Castle, gather any additional men you can and bring them with you to Sanctuary- we're going to need numbers in the Institute. Volunteer-basis only though, I don't want to force people in there with us. Anyone who stays behind will need to be on guard; we're going to need people on the outside for damage control. We don't know what the Institute is fully capable of- they could release more Synth guards into the Commonwealth when they think we're not looking."

"We should hit up the safe houses and bring in any free agents that we can," Glory added in. "Believe me, as someone who has seen the inside of the Institute, we're going to need the numbers to back us up while we're in there."

"And the weapons," Desdemona noted. "Don't worry about us, Charmer, I'll get everyone there."

"You guys do realize everyone will be going in blind, right?" Drummer Boy questioned. "I mean, we've done some risky blind runs ourselves, but this is hitting the top of the scoreboard here. One wrong turn, and you could get evaporated."

Right.

Blueprints were a little different than seeing the actual building and floors for themselves.

It could be easy to get lost- or wind up stuck in a corner for easy pickings.

"We just need to know where the reactor is, that's all," Nora started. "We're not looking to do a full sweep of the place. The easiest way to destroy them is to target that nuclear bomb they've been relying on for energy. It's the only thing strong enough to wipe them out."

"Before we get further into this planning, I think there's something else that needs to be discussed first," Preston interrupted. "What are we going to do about the people inside? There's probably all sorts of them in there, and we can't just let them die. If we're going to do this, we are not going to play the game like they normally do. You want to blow up that reactor, fine- but we're not monsters."

"There's going to be a lot of Synths in there too," Desdemona added.

There were a lot of questions, a lot of details that they still needed to go over.

A lot more to this than what they had said so far.

Baby steps though.

"We'll have to try and evacuate everyone that we can," Nora assured. "I don't know if they'll have a system in place for an evacuation, but we'll have to try and make one. Look, we'll have to do a lot of thinking on our feet when we're in there, so we need to be prepared to do whatever we can on short notice. If that involves dragging people into the relay for evacuation, then so be it." she paused briefly and offered a sigh as she pushed her fingers through her hair. "It's going to be hectic for sure- and there's no telling if any of our plans are even going to work. But I think we can do this; we really have no other choice on it though. I'll head out there now and scope out the area, see what I can find of this access tunnel."

"It's pitch dark outside; it's not safe," Preston warned.

As if he hadn't just traveled through the night himself.

"Not to mention you and Glory went shot to shot earlier," Deacon reminded. "Adrenaline gets you sober pretty quick, but you'll crash pretty hard later. And we need your head in this if we're going to pull it off- the plan that is, not your head.

... Right.

He had a point.

Nora might or might not have forgotten about the booze that was still swishing around in her stomach- giving off this artificial feeling of warmth in her fingertips.

"I'll be leaving early tomorrow then," she corrected.

"Alright. Well then, let's celebrate the last possible night we might be alive."

* * *

The HQ was quiet by the time everyone had slipped into a drunken slumber.

Tinker Tom was still tapping away at his computer, going through every piece of information he could pull off of that holotape. He could probably make more sense of it than Sturges could- which the man would willingly admit to.

Desdemona had cut her attendance short and spoke with PAM for an hour or so before she too turned in- citing that she needed to sleep on some things. No doubt PAM had given her more than she wanted to think on. But also considering the plan that had just been dropped into her lap... She controlled the Railroad; everything from here on out was her responsibility.

If they went forward with this plan, with fighting the Institute directly... It could make history for them- for her.

It might even silence Carrington's objections for awhile- although the man had spent a good portion of the night arguing quietly with her in the corner. Nora didn't think he opposed the idea, but it might've been too fast, too soon for them.

For now, it was just her, and Glory.

Preston had turned in early as well. The long, unexpected nighttime trip had taken a lot out of him- but not too much considering that he still had the energy to scold her about pulling the paste off of her cheek. To which she had to sheepishly admit that he had been right about needing to wait one more day on it.

"So..." Nora started, as she sipped at the bottle of water in hand- hoping to dilute the alcohol in her system. She was seated at one of the desks near the entrance for now, and tried to keep her voice quiet for those asleep. "You remember everything about the Institute, don't you?"

"Yep," Glory nodded, sitting on the actual desk. "I wanted to remember where I came from, and why I escaped. It helps keep me motivated when we do these rescue runs, because I know why these Synths are running, and I know that life out here in the Commonwealth is better than what's down there."

A noble act.

"Did you ever meet Father?"

If Glory was surprised by the question, she didn't show it. Instead, she gave a brief sigh and rubbed at the back of her neck. It was almost odd, but without her minigun and armor, she almost looked like an entirely different person. She almost didn't look like Glory, bullets and guts of the Railroad.

Almost though.

"Yeah, my memories a little fuzzy on him, but... I think I recall enough," Glory spoke. "Head of the Institute, always talked about building a greater Commonwealth- a greater world for the future. We called him Father because he was our creator, because he lead us- and yet, he never seemed to care about what happened to us after we stepped out of the flesh pit. He talked about the impact the Institute would make on the world, and yet never bothered to see us as anything more than pawns in his game of war. The only time he cared about his Synths was when one of us escaped."

Nora gave out a heavy sigh and leaned back in her chair.

"... What exactly happened, Charmer? How did he get turned into the Head of the Institute?"

The question had a hint of hesitation in it- a slight stumble in the words.

"Sixty years ago, the Institute found out about Vault 111 and it's cryogenic pods," she answered. "They were at the peak of their Synth production, but... in order to get the results they wanted, they needed pure, un-radiated DNA- which was impossible to find two hundred years after a nuclear war. At least, until they found us. Until they found out about Shaun. So, they sent Kellogg in to do the dirty work, and he shot Nate when he tried to save Shaun, who they then took back to the Institute. They harvested his DNA for their Synth projects, and then kept him around and turned him into the perfect leader." she sighed and rubbed at her eyes, feeling the burn of tiredness seeping in now. She had spent one too many nights crying over this... she couldn't muster out anymore tears. "He's called Father because every Synth carries his DNA with them."

There was silence.

And then Glory let out a low, subtle whistle.

"Christ, Charmer."

Nora nodded once more. "I know. And if Shaun hadn't worked out the way he did... I was supposed to be their back-up; it would've been me in that chair. But instead, sixty years later, Shaun decided he wanted to see what I could do in this world, and let me go. He wanted to know if I would come after him, if I would even make it to him... And I did. And tomorrow, I'm going to do it again."

"Good on you, Charmer," Glory spoke. "This world should've eaten you alive, and yet... you're sitting here right now, making plans to take down the largest enemy the Commonwealth has. No one's been able to do that before- I'm glad I'm here for the ride."

"It's the least I could do."

The woman chuckled and leaned back slightly- holding onto the edge of the desk to keep her balance. "... If every Synth carries Shaun's DNA, then technically they carry your DNA too. So should Synths start calling you Mother?"

Nora nearly choked on the water she had taken a sip of, and tried to keep her mix of laughing and choking down to a minimal. "No, no, no- that is the last thing I want," she replied through scattered breaths, which were further muffled by her hand over her mouth. "How dare you!"

Glory only grinned. "You're correcting Father's mistakes, it's the _least_ that we, Synths, could do."

"Mercy, Glory- mercy."

* * *

By early morning, Nora had already departed towards the old C.I.T ruins.

She had stuck around long enough to ensure that everyone knew what was going on, and what they were to do. Preston was going to make his way back towards the Castle to inform Ronnie of what was going on, and to get a message out to all of the available Minutemen. They were going to need men on the ground in case something went wrong, and the Minutemen were the only ones who could get it done.

He would grab the volunteers that they would need, and head back to Sanctuary as soon as he could.

Glory and Deacon would be making rounds to the safe houses to get them on high-alert- as well as grab any available agents, or Heavies that they could. They didn't promise numbers, but promised that they would bring the ones best qualified for this job; which should no one be available to volunteer, it would just be the two of them.

Desdemona opted to stay back for the time being- citing that she needed to finish off some administrative duties should something go wrong. She would be bringing herself and Tinker Tom to Sanctuary as soon as possible, while Carrington and Drummer Boy stayed back with PAM. At the very least, should they get wiped out in the Institute, the Railroad would be left in semi-decent hands.

Either way, by the end of the day, they would all hopefully regroup in Sanctuary.

And hopefully, it would be before Nora re-activated the relay.

There were a lot of things going on all at the same time, and they could only hope that it would all pull together in the end.

It had to.

After all, they only had one shot at this.

...

Nora took the highway towards Bunker Hill, and then cut left and followed the shoreline as soon as it was in sight.

She tried to keep herself out of sight as much as possible, unsure of who was watching, or who might be following her. It might've just been paranoia creeping into her bones, or maybe the remaining bit of liquor that clung to the inside of her stomach, but... she was certain that she couldn't be too careful out here. It didn't help that she was still fighting through a minor hangover though, or that her joints slightly creaked with pain- although she blamed that on the mattress she had slept on; she had slept in a twisted position for the greater part of the night. It was either that, or the fact that she had somehow ended up kicking Glory at some point, which then resulted in her getting punched back.

It was hard to say.

Either way, she didn't let it slow her down.

It was a grueling walk, but it didn't feel like it took her all that long to get the C.I.T. ruins in sight.

And as soon as she saw the building, she followed the broken overlook along the coastline and kept count of the coordinate numbers on her Pip-Boy. Every step was almost nauseating as she felt her heart constantly in her throat- as she watched the coordinate numbers getting closer and closer to the ones Tinker Tom had downloaded onto her device for convenience.

Nora gave a heavy sigh and stopped as the Pip-Boy beeped upon matching the numbers, before she looked over the broken railing to her left- and into the murky water below. She really would have to get more than her feet wet, wouldn't she? While Tinker Tom had confirmed the tunnel's location, she had still clung to the belief that maybe it wouldn't be so bad...

Unfortunately, it was.

At the very least, the man happened to have a Radsuit on-hand when he suggested taking one- and had even taken the liberty in patching it up with as much sealant and duct tape as he could.

Now all she had to do was wait for everyone else to get into position.

And considering that it had taken her a few hours to get this far, it wouldn't be too long for everyone else either- hopefully anyways.

Then again, Sanctuary was well on the other side of the Commonwealth.

Tugging her radio free, Nora fiddled with the frequency until she got a clean channel- and took one look around before she spoke. "Preston, this is Nora. How are things going on your end?"

There were a few seconds of feedback before his voice came in.

"Almost to Diamond City right now," he answered.

"Already?" she asked- surprised.

"Well, Ronnie got me on the radio by the time I passed Goodneighbor, and wanted to know what was the hold up- so I caught her up to date on the plan," Preston started. "For now, she's going to stay back and keep an eye on the Castle, but she's calling in to the other settlements and keeping them informed to stay on alert. Apparently Sturges left ahead of time with another unit; Ronnie managed to get in touch with them and told them to stay at Sanctuary when they got there, so we'll have an unit there waiting for us. She also told them to evacuate Sanctuary to the Abernathy Farm, so we won't have to worry about that."

Nora gave a sigh of relief and nodded to herself. "Good, good- I'm glad."

"What about you? Where are you at?"

"Well... I'm standing right above the access tunnel," she started, staring down at the murky water once more. "There's no telling how long it's going to take me to get through this thing though. And if you're already halfway back to Sanctuary... maybe if I start now, I'll get there by the time everyone else has already rendezvoused."

"You don't know what you're going to find down there, it might be best to give yourself some extra time to navigate the place," Preston agreed. "We'll be out of radio contact though, so any last minute things we need to go over again?"

"Just make sure everyone is in Sanctuary when I reactivate the relay," Nora replied. "It's a weird, bumpy kind of ride, so just try to stand still and keep your wits with you. In theory, this should all work out, so... I'll see you at the Institute."

"I'll see you there, General."

Nora started to hang up the radio, before an idea quickly took place in her head. "You said you were almost at Diamond City, right?"

"That's right. Why? Need me to pick up something?"

"... Yeah, ask Piper if she wants to get in on the biggest story of her life, and of the Commonwealth," she proposed.

"You want to take Piper? Into the Institute?" Preston repeated.

"Don't think she can handle herself?"

"No, no, believe me, I've heard her stories- and I've seen a few of them in action," he replied. "It was just unexpected that's all, but... it wouldn't be too bad to have someone there to document and record the whole thing. To prove that it actually happened."

"Precisely," Nora spoke. "Alright, I think it's time for me to take the plunge now."

"Stay safe."

Hanging up her radio this time, Nora sighed and took one more look around her before she pulled the refurbished Radsuit out from her bag. She had to remove her Pip-Boy in order to get the suit on properly, and quickly added some additional duct tape around the ankles and wrists- just to be safe. The Pip-Boy was waterproof thankfully, the only thing Vault-Tec did right, so she slapped it back on once her suit was fitted.

So far, so good.

The helmet was a little dirty, and slightly cracked, but she would hopefully only need it for just a few minutes.

Taking a deep breath, Nora hopped over the rusted railing and into the cold water below- landing with a muted splash.

Despite having the suit on for protection, she still cringed at the idea of being completely submerged in radiated water. Hell, just being submerged in water was still pretty scary to her.

Using her hands on the brick wall of the overlook, Nora dragged herself down to the open drainage tunnel, and felt the water's current take her in with it.


	6. Sanctuary

"So this is the place then, huh?"

Preston glanced to his right at the words, and noted that Desdemona seemed to be surveying Sanctuary quite carefully- even from the short distance away. There had been a hint of curiosity in her tone, but little else. He had no doubts that this was probably the first time the woman had been above ground in a long time; hell, this might've even been the furthest point in the Commonwealth she's ever ventured to- but he couldn't be too sure.

He didn't know much about the Railroad, or their type of business; nothing more than the rumors that flew around, and what little the General had told him. He knew Desdemona was the leader of it all, but that was about it- and he had only learned that a few days prior. But despite the rumors that circulated now and again about the Railroad, they seemed far more established than he had originally given them credit for.

The large rifle Desdemona carried at her side seemed to prove that.

Not to mention the heavy armor her Railroad agents were decked out in.

"I figured with a name like Sanctuary people would be running to it," she continued; her calculated steps kept her in time with him as their shared group made their way past the old Red Rocket.

Everyone had left the Old North Church at different times; he had left first, followed by Nora, and then the rest of the Railroad slowly dissipated after. He hit up Diamond City for Piper and some supplies, and then followed the roads back to Sanctuary- figuring he'd have to wait at least till tomorrow morning before they could execute this Institute ambush.

One minute it was just him and Piper taking a breather at the Starlight Drive-In.

And the next, there was Glory and Deacon with a small group of five Railroad agents at the gate.

And then, just as they were getting ready to leave, Desdemona and Tinker Tom showed up.

So, somehow, despite leaving at different times, and from different places, they still managed to run into one another along the way- which in of itself was a mystery.

He just marked it up as the Railroad knowing plenty of shortcuts and fast travel routes; the quick and quiet ways around the Commonwealth.

And while traveling in such a large group might've been suspicious, he highly doubted the Institute were watching them that closely- or even at all for that matter. They had to have had more important things to focus on rather than a rag-tag team of people traveling the Commonwealth. Or at least, in a few hours, the Institute would have a lot more important things to be focusing on.

The important thing for them though was that they would all arrive at Sanctuary at the same time- and they wouldn't have to worry about any last-minute panic because someone essential to the mission was still missing. All they had to do was wait for Nora to hit the relay and... go forward with the plan from there.

... The Minutemen and the Railroad were an unlikely combination- one he certainly didn't see coming.

"Maybe, but the General uh... she's preserving her memories here," Preston answered, fingers readjusting the strap of his laser musket; hours of traveling on the road had it feeling heavier, digging into his shoulder slightly.

"Ah."

A quiet sound of understanding from the Railroad Alpha.

During those first few months after the Vault, Nora had worked on getting Sanctuary as fixed up as one could during times like these. She had invested a lot of time into the Minutemen, and into fixing settlements, so she wanted to keep her own home away from home sort of deal. Although she was very content with having Mama Murphy, Jun, Marcy, and Sturges staying here- saying that it was nice to have people looking after the neighborhood while she was gone.

He knew she toyed with the idea of eventually opening Sanctuary up as another settlement, but... she was still dealing with a lot of things; she didn't want to make any rash decisions she might not be able to cope with later. But the fact that she had started to work on fixing up the other houses was an indicator that she was getting closer to moving on- even if there might still be months before that decision.

"So Charmer decided to not only build a Relay Interceptor into the Institute, but she chose to build it in her own front yard?" Desdemona spoke.

Preston chuckled lightly at the remark as they hit the foot of the bridge and made the careful walk over it. It creaked and shifted under foot, but the thing had held up to Brahmin walking over it before, so he wasn't worried. He couldn't say the same about the people behind him though.

Nora and Sturges had pieced the Interceptor together on one of the old house foundations- since the former, matching blue house had been blown downhill and into the river centuries before. It was the only flat piece of land that they could find to work with; and it was probably the only place stable enough to withstand the weight of the device.

Sure, there might've been some risk in building an access point to the Institute on their own front lawn, but it was easier for Sturges to get to and work on since he wasn't much for traveling.

"It was easier for her in the long run," Preston replied.

"You weren't afraid of the Institute back tracing you through the relay?"

It didn't so much as seem like the woman was questioning, as much as she was giving subtle hints of information to him. Was it possible for the Institute to back trace them through the relay and drop dozens of synths in Sanctuary like they did in Diamond City? Hell, he didn't know- but Desdemona sure as hell seemed like she did. It made him wonder why Nora had come to them instead of the Railroad. It was becoming quite clear that the Railroad would've had... higher standards of security, as well as safety, regarding the matter.

"Never really thought about it," he admitted. "Would've been a big mistake though."

Desdemona offered a quiet chuckle at his words- either laughing at him, or laughing with him for the broad talk of confidence. "Is that so?"

"You have clearly never met Marcy Long."

Stepping off of the bridge, he started down the road in front of them, planning on following it to the Interceptor, but stopped as two Minutemen scrambled up the river bank to meet them. He had spotted a few figures patrolling the perimeter of Sanctuary and figured it was the group Sturges had come back with- or at least he hoped it was them.

"Oh, Preston Garvey- man, are we glad to see you," one of the men spoke, as he stepped forward to hastily shake his hand. "Ronnie told us that we were suppose to escort that guy here, and to keep this place under watch until you got here."

Okay, good, so Sturges had made it back to Sanctuary in one piece- that was a relief. Preston always got a little nervous when the man went traveling either on his own, or without him being there. Sturges was built like a damn Super Mutant, but... he lack combative skills- and that was putting it nicely.

"Ronnie also said that we're supposed to be assisting the General with an assault on the Institute?" the man continued, dropping his hand before he nervously seemed to twist at the strap of his gun over one shoulder. "I mean- is that even possible? That guy said that that machine could get us there, but it can't actually do that- can it?"

He could certainly understand the man's nerves- it wasn't every day someone told you to buckle up to attack the Institute.

Especially considering the mayhem the Institute had been causing across the Commonwealth for the past two days... Everyone wanted to strike back, but they had no idea of how to do it; they had no means of doing it.

Until now anyways.

"It's gotten to the Institute before," Preston spoke, glancing back briefly as the rest of their group finally made it over the bridge safely; a few of Desdemona's Railroad agents looked sheepishly relieved to have their feet on solid ground again. "The General's working on a separate route to get back into the Institute. And when she gets there, that Relay Interceptor will fire back up, and we'll all be transported in."

In theory, anyways.

The color almost seemed to drain from the man's face. "Holy cricket."

"Well, I for one, can't wait," the second Minuteman spoke. "After all the hell they've been givin' us, we sure as hell deserve our chance to wear the ass-kicking boot this time."

"Amen, brother," Deacon called from somewhere in the back- garnering a brief, what might've been disappointed, sigh from Desdemona.

"We're just waiting on the General- and maybe the Interceptor, depending on how much work Sturges got done on it," Preston remarked, not willing to admit that he was now a little apprehensive about the whole thing.

Sturges left the Castle as soon as he had passed on the news about the second entry into the Institute- and promised that he would work on the Interceptor as soon as he got back to Sanctuary. And while Sturges was good when it came to machinery and getting things done... he would've only had a few hours at most to work on the relay; and that was if he had forgoed on sleep, which wasn't uncommon for him to do.

So the question was: would a few hours be enough time to put the Interceptor back into full working capacity? Or at least enough to safely risk use it anyways?

Preston felt a slight brush against his shoulder and watched as Piper moved past him. "You know, I would love to interview you if you don't mind- you know, to get a little insight on the pre-siege jitters that are going around," she started, speaking to the two Minutemen in front- notepad already in hand, before she turned back to him. "If that's all right with the Lieutenant-General, that is."

He wasn't surprised that the news reporter was already asking questions.

It was the one reason Nora requested that Piper be brought along- so that they could get the full story of this down on paper. So that people years from now would know exactly how this started, how it happened- and how it ended.

Hell, the entire way here, she was scribbling down all sorts of things- asking him questions he didn't know the answers to; and she still managed to write something down out of his fumbled words. It made him a little afraid of how the final product of that interview might read.

Of course, once they met up with the Railroad, things kind of hit a dead-end.

"Go for it- just don't pressure anyone to answer your questions, alright?" Preston replied.

"You got it, boss."

He continued on past them- feeling a little sorry for the Minutemen left behind, considering how fast the questions were coming from Piper's lips. At the very least, the two men seemed somewhat eager to be interviewed.

Leading the group further up the street, and around the first curve, he brought them to the full view of the neighborhood- as well as to the sight of the Relay Interceptor sitting in the distance. So far so good- at least it wasn't smoking anymore.

Then again, it hadn't been powered on yet either, which was where their last problem laid.

Preston had to wonder if the generator that blew out was still useable or not.

It didn't look like Sturges was out there working on it though- at least he couldn't see the man from where they were standing. The Minutemen back at the bridge had confirmed his arrival though, so that was good news at least; now it was just a gamble of where the man had gone. Hopefully they still had enough spare parts around to jerry-rig the thing back together- or else Sturges would have to have to go to one of the traders nearby. Which would add time to their already short window here.

"Sturges?" Preston called out, as he paused slightly outside of the house the man usually stayed in; he might've gone inside for a quick break.

"Missing your handyman?" Desdemona questioned.

"He's around here somewhere; he's not good with travel, and he's horrible in a fight, so he couldn't have left," he replied.

It only took a few seconds before he heard the familiar sound of the man's heavy footsteps against creaky floorboards, before Sturges stepped out into the covered garage. His skin was red and covered in sweat- no doubt from working all morning out in the sun. He had even undid part of his overalls and tied them around his waist, showing off the white shirt he wore underneath them- although the material clung to him now from the sweat.

There was what appeared to be part of a dirty rag caught between his teeth as he seemed a little more focused on the bottle of clean water in hand.

"Hewy bwoss," Sturges barely managed to tongue out. "Ywo got 'ere fast- and ya bwought compwany."

To everyone else, he might've been hard to understand- but Preston had gotten so used to the man talking with tools between his teeth that it wasn't hard to decipher what he was trying to say anymore. "We got important business to do- and we can't do it alone," Preston reminded, before he looked back to the small crowd behind him- quite aware of the strange looks that most of them were giving him. "Everyone, this is Sturges, our local handyman. He's the one who built, and broke, the relay."

"Iwm fixin' it," the man mustered out. "Iw gat that pippin' replayed, and the intewrnal heatin' stablized-" the rest of his words were almost inaudible as he continued to speak through the rag in his mouth. Twisting his bottle of water open, he poured some of it over his face, before he took the rag and wiped himself down with it. "Anyways, like I was sayin', it should be good to go by now- and at no risk of creatin' a fire this time. I've been working on it and improvin' the design- should be able to hold up to the stress of a lot more people now. In theory anyways."

"Will it be done in time?" Preston asked.

"That much, I don't know," Sturges admitted. "I got the big issues down, but there are some nitpicky stuff I still need to work on. Now I don't think it'll offset the Interceptor, but I'm no expert."

Preston could see the way Desdemona seemed to shift nervously next to him.

"Well hey, uh, mind if I take a look at it then?" Tinker Tom asked, as he stepped forward.

"Sure thing, brother, right this way," Sturges offered, as he stuffed the bottle of water and rag into the pockets of his jeans. "You look like a handyman yourself, maybe you can give me a hand with this one heatin' pipe I'm having trouble with. It ain't a big deal, I think the Intercepter will work fine without it- but just in case, you know? Don't hurt to be too careful."

Preston watched as the two men headed towards the back portion of the neighborhood, before he turned back to group. "We might be here awhile, so feel free to make yourselves at home, and get off your feet for the time being," he started, watching as the group nervously looked around at their new surroundings. Well, maybe not nervous, but apprehensive about not knowing much about where they were.

"We don't know how much down time we'll have here, so take advantage of it," Desdemona agreed. "We don't want to rush into the Institute with aching feet and slow reactions."

And just like that, the small group dissipated.

Most of the Railroad agents that had tagged along with them seemed to prefer to pace somewhat nervously- cautious of the new surroundings. But a few of the agents took the opportunity to plop down on the sidewalk and rub at their sore feet and calves. There was no telling how far many of them had traveled to get here.

He had no doubts that the agents were fully aware of what the Institute could do, and such, were more prepared than anyone else here. But at the same time, that knowledge was probably what scared them the most. They _knew_ what the Institute was capable of- and they _knew_ what would happen if they failed this siege. And that knowledge wrapped up in being in a new place, with no knowledge of the exits, or escape routes, or where any of the roads here went... it had to be unnerving to say the least.

"Alright, Dez, so... we're on break then?" Deacon asked.

"It's not an excuse to lower your guard, but yes, we're going to lay low for the time being," Desdemona replied. "Unless, of course, you have other plans- which knowing you Deacon, you do."

"I'll keep an eye on him," Glory promised.

He watched as Desdemona nodded in return, and watched as the two moved off- probably to scope out the area and ensure that it was safe to settle in for now.

The woman gave a brief sigh before she turned back to him. "I'll admit, I'm a little worried," Desdemona remarked; her arms were crossed, and her body somewhat stiff- much like some of her agents. "I feel better knowing that Tinker Tom will be looking this Interceptor over though."

"I trust him," Preston assured. "If Sturges says it's fixed, it's fixed."

She nodded, although she hardly seemed convinced. "I'll have to take your word for it," Desdemona replied. "When it comes to getting the Interceptor back online and working, you can be the first in line."

He chuckled lightly at her words as he slowly walked into the covered garage to get out of the sun- one hand wiping the sweat off of the back of his neck. "You know what, Sturges may not be good with a gun, but he's damn good with a wrench, so I'll take up on your challenge."

She managed a quiet laugh in response, as she followed him, and took to the nearby chair he gestured to- no doubt happy to get off of her feet as well. "You're an interesting man, Mr. Garvey."

"I've been called a lot of things in the past, but I have to admit... I don't think anyone's ever called me interesting before," he replied, as he sat down in the chair adjacent to her.

"That's a real shame."

* * *

"You know, I don't think I will ever understand why someone like Charmer would prefer these guys over us," Deacon spoke. "Or why she would choose someone like Preston over me."

Glory snorted slightly at the question- wondering if the man was being serious, or dramatic. But in this case, she would go with dramatic- especially considering how he had walked into this house and practically thrown himself onto the couch. After doing a quick perimeter check on Sanctuary, and chatting up with some of the Minutemen, they settled on the place being safe enough- at least, for a few hours. Deacon had welcomed himself to one of the open houses and tossed himself onto the couch to rest- reminding her that Preston had told them to 'make themselves at home' for now.

Regardless, she was just glad to get off of her feet for a bit and rest.

A full siege on the Institute was going to need a lot of energy, and they had already crippled themselves with that long journey to get here. But this had to be done- and it had to be done now.

Not that she was looking forward to going back into the Institute- never figured she'd see the damn place again.

"Well, for one, as stories go, Charmer saved him, and then Preston saved her- so their loyalties run pretty deep," Glory spoke, as she balanced herself on an old bar stool. "She's committed to his cause too, and she's been doing a damn good job of running the Minutemen so far. Not to mention, she's been with them longer- so her priorities dictate them over us." she watched as Deacon loosely waved a hand over his head, as though to dictate her truthful answer to be boring. "Well, if you want to get real personal with it, Deacon; Preston's not a liar- and I think that's a good enough reason to trust him over you."

"I prefer the term 'Enthusiastic Exaggerator'," he replied. "But you make a good point- I'll give you that."

"At least you're modest about it."

"Yeah, unlike you," Deacon remarked, to which she shot him a questioning look. "Oh come on, I saw you eyeballing that local handyman like he was the next dead drop you wanted to jump on."

Glory sputtered out a few failed words at his accusation, unable to properly convey her shock that he would even suggest such a thing. Not that it wasn't true, so to say. Honestly, she would probably stare at anyone who was wearing a white shirt and decided to pour water over themselves. Especially if they had biceps that size. "I did not- you couldn't prove it anyways," she shot back at him.

Deacon shot her a grin in response, and briefly peeked over the frame of his sunglasses. "Is that so?"

At first, she wanted to knock that grin clean off of his face- but she thought of something better instead. "Be honest, Deacon, even if you had a way to prove it, who's even going to believe you?" Glory pressed. "Don't trust anyone, right?"

"... You are a cruel, cruel woman."

Glory grinned and decided to make that one up as a victory- a double victory almost seeing as Deacon admitted she had won, which was a rarity for him to do. She paused in the midst of her celebration though as the red-clad news reporter walked into the house; the woman seemed busy with shuffling through her freshly-filled notepad, trying to keep papers from falling out of it.

There was no telling how many people Piper had already interviewed. And considering that Dez didn't really have any protocol about that sort of ordeal, there was no telling how many of their agents had already spoken to her. At best, their agents said nothing. But a lot of them were pretty nervous, rightfully so, so that might've loosened a few lips here or there.

"I don't suppose I'm going to be able to get a statement out of either of you, right?" Piper questioned, although her tone insinuated that she already knew the answer.

"Don't trust anyone," Deacon offered, before adding, "- especially not the press."

Piper gave a roll of her eyes at the words, before she looked around the small house. "Have either of you seen Codsworth? He's the Mr. Handy who floats around and keeps things cleaned. He might've gone with the rest of the neighborhood and holed up somewhere else."

"Codsworth?" Glory repeated, watching as the woman walked around the small kitchen-esque area, before she ducked into the back hallway. "Do you really think you should be snooping around like that? I mean, you know, privacy and all?"

"Ah, don't worry, Blue's taken me here a few times before; she won't mind," Piper assured, as she peeked into one of the rooms. "Oh, Codsworth must've powered down for the afternoon- poor guy, always overworking himself."

Glory frowned slightly. "Blue? Is that... Charmer? Who's also General, and also Nora? How many nicknames does this woman have? She's about as bad as you are, Deacon- if that's your real codename."

"Don't sell me out."

* * *

"Not a bad build if I have to be honest, man," Tinker Tom remarked, standing in the middle platform of the Interceptor as he looked over the scribbled blueprints. "Well, I mean, the fact that you were able to build off of these crayon drawings says a lot."

"I had to take some... creative liberties with a lot of it," Sturges replied, on his knees, working on the back of the command console for the time being. He had already pulled out the mess of jerry-rigged wires, and was trying to repair some of the burned, stripped casings on some of them. When the power blew out the first time, some of the wiring got smoked; he managed to salvage a majority of it, and did what he could with it, but some of the commands weren't operational through the console still. "Should've paid more attention to those exhaust hoses on the side though; the pressure build up was too much and two of them blew. Thankfully the boss made it to the Institute in one piece- barely though."

Tom nodded and looked around at the structure- trying to take in as many details as he could. "Yeah, yeah, exhaust hoses are a pain when you can't predict proper build-up. Hey man, what'd you use to stabilize the relay energy output?" he questioned, looking up to where the whole machine connected at the top.

Sturges looked back at the question, before he finished his work with the wires and shoved them back in- closing the metal panel behind them. Dusting his gloves off on his jeans, he walked over and stepped onto the platform with the other man. "You talking about that thing?" he asked, pointing to the metal ring around the energy hose above them.

"Yeah."

"It's a hubcap."

"... Ah," Tom nodded. "That's... actually pretty ingenious, my man."

"Well, when ya bring me all this technical stuff, but the most I've worked on is power armor, I just gotta make due where I can," Sturges shrugged. "I'm pretty used to melting down spare parts when I can, or just using what I got to the best of my abilities. What would you have used though? I mean, the hubcap worked, but if there's a way to make this thing safer."

"We actually have a high-energy stabilizer back home," Tom answered. "We jacked it from an old Institute hub before they came back and destroyed; it was a nice grab too. Too bad we couldn't grab more from that place though- lost a lot of good potential shit."

Sturges gave a brief laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. "Why the hell did the boss come to me if you guys already had the parts for this kind of thing?" he spoke. "I mean, a little too late to ask now, and a little too late to grab those parts- so we're still stuck with what we have here."

"Hey man, if this worked before, we can get it to work again," Tinker Tom replied, as he folded up the plans and handed them back to Sturges. "So, are you gonna tighten the holding rods on these insulating tubes over here?"

"If I do, it creates the pressure needed to blow out the heating tunnel," Sturges answered. "I mean, it rattles a bit when it starts up, but it'll keep the thing from melting down on itself when the relay does activate."

"Makes sense, makes sense. What about the-" he started, before he heard the hubcap above them start to rattle and looked up to see it vibrating in place. "Is it supposed to be doing that?"

"It rattles at first when the energy's cut on, but it'll level out after a few seconds," Sturges assured. "Makes a lot of noise, but it's harmless."

"Ah alright- wait, did you say when the energy's cut on?"

"Yeah-"

* * *

Nora looked up at the sharp crackling of energy and watched as the relay chamber in front of her filled itself with a near blinding blue light.

It felt like it had taken her days to get back to this cursed room.

She was covered in sweat, and smelled like nasty swamp water and chemicals- despite being in a full rad-suit. While the tunnel to get here wasn't too awfully bad, it had been like crawling through a sewer at one point. One in which she slipped off a piece of broken concrete and busted her nose on another while she scrambled to avoid falling into the water. And, unfortunately, she had taken her rad helmet off just minutes before, so there was a faint smear of dried blood on her chin.

And a slight whistle when she breathed through her aching nose.

The important thing was that she was here now though- and that she had unlocked her personal relay and was getting everything into motion now. And apparently judging by the relay chamber, she had jumpstarted it a little quicker than anticipated, considering she had already teleported two people in. Which she wasn't expecting. Nora figured she would active the relay, and the energy output would draw everyone's attention, and things would go from there.

She watched as the energy dissipated, revealing both Tinker Tom and Sturges in the chamber.

And both of whom looked a little more than just shocked to say the least.

"You guys alright?" Nora asked, watching as the two of them seemed to jump at her voice, before they somewhat stumbled out of the relay chamber. "What were you doing on the Interceptor?"

"Fixin' it," Sturges answered, looking around at the control room- and looking a little out of place. "I mean, it's basically fixed, but we were still working on some of the small things."

"Does it still work?" she pressed- feeling a little hint of fear creeping up on her. If the Interceptor hadn't been fixed yet... and she just pulled in the only two handymen who could fix it... Well then this entire plan just went to shit. As much as she loved and appreciated Sturges and Tinker Tom, two handymen would not provide her with the proper support in battle.

"Yeah, it'll work, don't you worry- but look, I don't remember me coming here being a part of the plan," Sturges continued. "You know I ain't good in a fight."

Nora gave out a sigh of relief- glad to know her plan was still functional. "You won't be fighting- I promise," she assured, before she turned her attention back to the console and fired up the relay once more. "Your job will be to hold this position and keep the relay open. I'm going to need the two of you to help evacuate anyone who comes through here, alright?"

"You got it, boss."

"Holy shit, Charmer, you really making history with this one," Tinker Tom spoke, one hand still holding onto his hat as he walked around the room- no doubt it was a stark contrast to the world he was used to living, and working in. He didn't spend much time exploring, as he moved over to the console she was working at. "You mind if I take over? I just wanna, you know, see what kind of goodies I can grab from their mainframe."

"Knock yourself out," Nora replied, as she stepped away to give him room at the console, before she watched as the relay chamber sparked to life once more. She moved to the open doorway to greet their next set of guests- which just happened to be Preston and Piper. "Glad to see you made it in one piece," she started, watching as they stepped out with the same look of surprise and shock that the other two had had. "Welcome to the Institute, my friends."

"Holy shit, Blue- I can't believe you did this," Piper whispered, looking in awe to her surroundings, as she kept one hand on her hat as well. "Or that you brought me along for the ride. I'll admit, I kind of thought you were talking out the ass there for a bit."

"You and me both, but someone's gotta record this- and who else but our beloved news reporter who only writes the bitter truth?" Nora replied. "I hope you brought enough bullets though- this will still be a war zone."

"Hey, it'll be the first war I get to cover."

Nora turned her attention back to Preston. "We got everyone in line on the other side?"

"They're about as ready as one could get in a situation like this," Preston answered, before he reached into one of the pockets of his duster- and pulled out a hefty bag, which he handed to her. "Here. I picked up some extra shells for you shotgun while I was grabbing Piper; figured you might've ran into more trouble in that tunnel than you accounted for in bullets."

Part of her shouldn't have been surprised- Preston was always thinking one step ahead. And if there was one thing he was good at, it was keeping count of bullets, and making sure everyone had a full stock before leaving.

Still... the gesture left her a little stunned.

She had run into a few more creatures down below than she had anticipated- and it had cut into her stock a little more than she would've liked. She was still pretty certain she had plenty of rounds to go through, but there was no telling. Everything from here on out was completely new territory, and she had no doubts that the Institute would fight like hell against them.

Nora gave a brief laugh out of gratitude and took the shells from him. "You're a Saint, Preston," she smiled.

The relay chamber lit up once more- this time revealing Desdemona, Glory, and a few Railroad agents.

"Told you," Preston spoke, as he turned to greet the new group.

"That you did," Desdemona nodded- hinting at something Nora had no clue about. "Now that we're all here, we should start our next phase of planning. If we're lucky, the Institute hasn't realized what's going on just yet, so we still have the ambush advantage," she started, keeping a tight grip on her Railway Rifle. "But we won't go unnoticed for too long, so we'll need to hurry. Tom's got the charge and detonator you'll need- do you know where this reactor is?"

Straight and to the point.

No need to waste any more time.

"I pulled some files from the computer," Nora answered, before she tapped on the screen of her Pip-Boy. "Got us a map that'll take us straight to it."

"Good," the woman spoke, before she turned around as a larger group of both Minutemen and Railroad agents relayed in. "Glory, I want you to stand guard with Tom and Sturges. A lot of those Synths that are escaping are doing so for a reason, and the Institute doesn't want them out- no matter what. If anyone tries to stop one of the Synths, you know what to do. Hopefully we won't need your assistance where we're going, but if we do, I'll contact you."

"Right on," Glory replied, as she moved towards the front of the room to get into a good position; hands working to get her minigun free from her rig. "I can't believe I came back here... Good to see nothing's changed- still a shithole."

"Ready to move, General?" Preston questioned.

It felt almost surreal to be back at the Institute- except this time, she wasn't alone.

This time, she had plenty of back-up to keep her moving forward. No one was going to kick her out this time.

And there were no second thoughts about this siege as Nora dwelled back to the utter chaos they had been dealing with in the past couple of days. As she thought back to the fresh graves just recently dug against the back wall of the Castle- as she remembered the screams of horror and pain that echoed against the walls of Fort Independence.

She thought back to the terrified citizens of Diamond City, who were still licking their wounds and putting the broken pieces back together. Who were still afraid to open their doors even as her own men and women, nervous as they were, patrolled the city just in case.

In a few minutes, the Institute, and all of its workers would soon be facing that same kind of fear, that same kind of terror.

"Let's go."


	7. The Institute

**A/N: Almost posted this chapter the day before, but I re-read it, and just absolutely hated it. So I re-wrote it overnight, and it's much better- makes me glad I took the time to evaluate it again, or else I would've been super unhappy with it.**

* * *

Nora held her breath as she made her way to the front and lead her combined team forward. She was a mix of nervous and anxiety, but her confidence had already gotten them this far; she had to take them further. She had to end this.

It was hard to imagine how every single person Nora had with her right now, Preston, Desdemona and Piper included, had been living in this Commonwealth; they had been living in this Post-Post-Apocalyptic state for far longer than Nora had. The only world any of them ever knew was this one; this dust-covered, radiated world of shit- a far cry, a shadow of the world she had once loved.

And now they were here, every single one of them, taking careful steps into the Institute- a place so many had considered unreachable, maybe even non-existent.

Here they were, soon to come face-to-face with the monster that had haunted their dreams and disturbed their lives since birth.

But this time... they would get to end it.

They would get to pull the trigger and blow out the heart of the boogeyman.

And she would see to it that they did.

Making her way down the three steps, Nora entered the next room and headed to the only door on her left. She shouldered it open and waited as her eyes did a quick scan of the desolate-looking room. There wasn't much to it aside from what looked to be an abandoned office space of some kind. Maybe even an observation sort of area considering the open window to her right that took up much of the wall space, and the discarded terminal next to it.

Her Pip-Boy would supposingly be taking them through the old Robotics Wing, which was the only way to infiltrate the Institute without the use of the primary elevator.

Which was just fine with Nora... She didn't want to get back into that thing anyways.

Not when she knew who it would lead her to.

She wanted- no, she _needed_ time to prepare herself for that eventual confrontation.

"Keep your eyes open," Preston spoke quietly, as everyone slowly began to file in after her one by one.

 _Don't let your nerves get to you._

Inching herself forward, eyes sharp on any piece of dust that so much as fell from the ceiling, Nora worked her way towards the small terminal by the broken window. Its keyboard was layered in dust- hinting that no one had been down here in a long, long time. Which seemed about right judging from the environment it was in. Shouldering her shotgun for the time being, Nora tapped heavily on the stuck keys; she was barely able to hack through the commands, let alone actually see the access menu through the grime. She could only make out a few words- and only one of them was important to her.

 _Turrets._

Of _fucking_ course.

At the very least, her annoying habit of checking every single terminal seemed to be coming in handy for once.

"Watch yourselves," Nora whispered, watching as two Minutemen and one Railroad agent peeked down the staircase to her left- leading down into the dark room below. Her fingers were quick to deactivate the still functioning turrets, which only added more questions to this already strange ordeal. Why have active turrets in an abandoned sector of the Institute? Especially when this place was considered inaccessible to anyone but Institute personnel. What were they afraid of?

She watched as the trio nodded, before they slowly descended.

"No offense, but this place looks like shit," Piper whispered, coming up behind Nora as she peeked at the terminal screen. "Any goodies on there?"

"Nothing but security," Nora answered, before she armed herself with her shotgun once more and headed towards the stairs. "You handling yourself okay?"

"Don't you worry about me, Blue."

She liked Piper's confidence, even in the eye of the storm- in the belly of the beast.

Then again, this was probably like a walk in the park for the woman.

"We're good down here, General!" one of her Minutemen called from the foot of the stairs- straining to keep his voice low, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

Good. This was a good start.

Nora made her way down the rickety stairs that swayed slightly under her heavy footsteps. Part of her felt like she should've been a little more careful, a little quieter- maybe even slower. But time was of the essence right now, and she had to get everyone through this as quick as possible; they had to maintain their ambush advantage here.

No one at the Institute manned the relay, because no one unauthorized was allowed to use it. That was why she was able to secure the room so easily, and how they were all still alive now.

... Father wouldn't know what hit him.

She would ensure that.

Hitting the foot of the stairs, Nora watched as the trio kept separate posts around the room- nodding to let her know it was secure. There was only one exit out... and it lead straight into what looked to be a narrow walkway overlooking an assembly station below. The machinery was pre-war, Nora could see that. Most of it looked to be in good condition, but the layer of dust said a working hand hadn't touched it in a long time.

Maybe this was where they had previously constructed the Gen-1 and Gen-2 Synths from metal.

And later abandoned for the synthetic flesh of the Gen-3's.

It was a nice theory anyways.

Standing on the catwalk, looking down at the work station below, Nora found herself with only one temporary question. With no plausible way down, via staircase, or even a ladder... How the hell were they supposed to move forward?

... On second thought, it didn't look to be too bad of a fall- certainly not the worst she had jumped before. It wouldn't result in any limb damage at least, unless the floor suddenly decided to cave out from underneath her.

Okay, so a simple jump wouldn't stop her.

Sliding her shotgun to her back, Nora placed her hands on the railing and started to hoist herself up- managing to swing one leg over so that she slightly straddled it.

"Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" Preston questioned as he walked in. His tone hinted that he already knew the answer- and with how she was positioned, it couldn't have been hard to guess either.

"Got a better idea?" she asked instead.

"No other exits, not so much as another door asides from this one... As questionable as it is, I'll trust your judgment."

Nora shot him a sheepish sort of grin, before she swung her other leg over and caught her feet on the edge of the catwalk- briefly suspending herself for now. She did a second judging on the fall distance, and picked out which place she wanted to land when she inevitably jumped.

... If the situation wasn't as tense, or as serious as it needed to be, she probably would've shouted something to the likes of 'long live the King' before she leapt. But she somehow got the feeling that it wouldn't go over so well with everyone else.

Eh, Piper would've enjoyed it though.

Or Deacon. Come to think of it, where was that asshole?

Holding her breath, Nora jumped down and landed heavy on the balls of her feet- which ended up forcing her to go into a recovery roll.

"For the love of- are you alright, Charmer?!"

Nora recognized the exasperated tone, and had a brief laugh to herself.

Desdemona must've walked in just in time to see her famous jump- what a sight to see in the Institute.

"I'm good-" Nora started, barely getting to her feet before she heard a faint buzzing sound just in front of her. She looked up in time to see the other side of the room light up with red dots, before she heard the ever familiar buzz of Institute rifles taking fire. The flooring just a foot in front of her was quickly peppered with laser rounds, and Nora had to throw herself backwards to avoid a few more accurate shots.

It was a mess of hands and feet as she slipped on the dust-covered floor, before she barely scrambled to get behind a nearby assembly machine for cover.

Shaking hands ripped her shotgun free as Nora waited for the bullet storm to cease.

She could hear the familiar metallic clang of Synths as they rushed into the room with her.

Shit! How did they get found out so quickly?!

This was supposed to be an abandoned sector- no Synth was supposed to be here!

No, this was fine.

They could still recover.

They could still do this.

Nora jumped slightly as she heard a hailstorm of bullets rain down from above her- making it sound like a God-given chorus in the echoes of the abandoned work station. She looked up to see the smoking guns on the walkway above, and listened to the sounds of the synthetic guards getting blown apart.

For once, they were the ones who had the numbers, and the bullets.

Then again, Nora wondered if the Institute guards had solely just focused on her when she dropped down- and somehow completely failed to notice the small arsenal of people just above them.

While there was no sense of physical cover on the walkway, asides from the person next to you, the higher ground advantage was all they needed.

Nora held her breath and waited for it to be over- trying to ignore the sound of ringing and her own blood pumping in her ears.

It didn't take long for the room to slowly settle back into silence thankfully.

"You're good to go, General!"

Sighing, Nora let out her breath and gave a nod of thanks before she picked herself back up. She stepped out from her cover and did a quick sweep of the room- ensuring that every Synth here had been blown back into its basic components around her feet. Okay, first lesson learned- she need to be more careful, more observant before she jumped into the fire. She could've gotten blasted to pieces right then, and then what?

The siege could've hit a standstill. It could've been over.

Not to say that she didn't think everyone else could carry the mission forward, but-

No, not important.

Not anymore.

"You're good to go," Nora announced, as she walked back towards the walkway. "Thanks for watching my back, everyone."

"You almost got your ass blown off," Piper replied, provoking some quiet, scattered laughter from the people around her.

Nora chuckled herself. "Well then, me leading the front wouldn't be so fun," she retorted. "Now then, who wants to jump first? I promise that I'll try to catch you- but I do not guarantee success on my behalf."

"I think I'll pass, General," Preston spoke, before he handed his laser musket over to Desdemona, and worked himself over the railing just as Nora had moments before. There seemed to be a little hesitation on his part before he jumped- and he did a much better job at sticking the landing than she had.

Desdemona tossed his musket back down to him, to which he set it aside on one of the assembly belts, before he caught the Railway Rifle she tossed afterwards; he grunted slightly at the heavy weight that came down with it.

Everyone worked in rotation.

Those on the catwalk tossed their weapons to the people below just before they jumped- ensuring that no one's gun took damage in the fall. It might've been a short, and easy leap, but there was no sense in taking any unnecessary risk here.

Being down a single gun could've been all it took to end their siege.

Nora waited with nervous hands as everyone eventually made their way down to the same floor as her. There was no going back now; they could only move forward from this point onward.

... While waiting for everyone to regroup, it might've been the first time Nora realized that there was twelve of them in total. There was her, Preston, Desdemona, Piper, as well as four Railroad Heavies, and four Minutemen. It was a nice, solid number, but... would it be enough to take down the Institute with? Of course, they still had Glory tucked away for the time being, so if they got into a tight spot, she would be a nice wild card to reveal.

Continuing forward, Nora followed her Pip-Boy, which lead them through the rest of the assembly room, and into a short hallway to her right. Her device highlighted a spot on the map, right where a circular hatch sat at her feet. She wanted to doubt it at first, but the hatch opened automatically as soon as she got close to it- revealing another room underneath them.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Piper questioned.

Nora was almost certain that Piper was just asking the one question that no one else wanted to.

After all, what they had seen so far of the Institute didn't appear to be anything like the monster everyone had imagined- although the Synth guards confirmed that they were in the right place.

"I'm positive," Nora assured- and as an act of such, she forced herself down through the hatch.

Was she really all that positive? No.

She had never been here- if only for twenty minutes at most, maybe. And even then, she only stayed confined to that one room. She had never been down here- never been down this far into the belly of the beast. Hell, if she didn't have the map she had snagged from the computer, she wouldn't even know where the hell she was right now.

But did she have to let everyone else know that?

No.

Slowly navigating the narrow, rundown corridor that came next, Nora listened to each person coming down the hatch; and she only picked up her pace when everyone had gone through. The walls around them were stripped down to loose wires and cables sticking free. Old boxes lined the walls, and a few of them had to be slightly kicked out of the way in order for her to move forward.

Somehow she didn't imagine the Institute looking this rundown- even in an abandoned sector.

Either way, they just needed to use this place long enough to get to where they needed to be.

For instance, to the door that was now in front of her.

Her Pip-Boy revealed that it would lead them into the BioScience wing.

And the reports she had pulled on BioScience said that there were nearly half a dozen scientists currently working in this wing alone.

Nora waited until everyone had caught up to her- taking the time to catch her breath while she was at it. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she would be ignorant to try and ignore the feeling of constant fear creeping up the back of her neck. Her palms were getting a little sweater now, and she could feel a tight knot forming in her throat. Her nerves were winding up and knotting themselves underneath her skin.

No one else had to know about that though.

"Alright everyone... this is the real show now," Nora spoke, keeping her voice low; it was easier to control the shaking that way. "Mind your bullets, count them, and watch your head, alright?"

A quiet chorus of muttered agreements were whispered behind her.

No doubt everyone else was feeling the same kind of anxiety that she was.

"Good. Anything else that needs to be said before we go in there?" she questioned.

"We all know what we're here for, what we're doing here," Preston started. "Do not raise your gun at anyone who isn't shooting back at you. If someone wants to run, let them run. We're not monsters- and we're _not_ going to be monsters. The Institute doesn't share that kind of mindset, but it doesn't mean that we have to play the same games that they do. Whether or not you believe it, there are innocent people here. And they deserve the chance to escape- safely, and with their lives."

Another small chorus of agreements- and an appreciative nod from Desdemona.

Nora brushed her hand against his arm, before she squeezed it out of reassurance- and as a way to say thanks.

This was the Institute, the Commonwealth's boogeyman.

Most people wouldn't even think to not treat these scientists as anything less than the monsters they made themselves out to be.

But then again, most people weren't like Preston.

When everyone gave the go ahead, Nora quietly counted down from three, before she pushed through the BioScience door.

It was much cleaner on this side- no doubt because it was still functional to the Institute.

A speck-white office full of terminals and desks greeted them. It was a far cry sight from the bomb-torn office buildings that laid scattered across the Commonwealth- dust covered, with small remains of its previous attendants; a small homage to the world that once was.

Nora kept her steps quiet- rolling her feet to keep her boots from squeaking against the white-tiled floor. Slowly working her way through the room, she kept her body low and motioned for everyone else to do the same. She could hear faint talking from the next room over, and knew that they were just barely out of the sight of the scientists; the slightest of noises could give away their positions right now.

Motioning for everyone to stay back, Nora worked up to the open doorway nearby and took the opportunity to scope out the next room. She briefly peeked out and winced at the blinding lights that filled the large lab; she had to blink a few times before her eyes adjusted to them. As far as she could tell, there were just a lot of plants, with a few scientists tending to each one separately.

She could only spot two Synth guards for the time being, but she got a feeling that they weren't the only ones around.

Glancing up, Nora figured she would see if there were any camera or anything of the sort that would give them away- only to regrettably notice the turrets that lined all along the ceiling.

 _Great._

"We got two guards, but mostly turrets in here," Nora whispered back to everyone. "Anyone with a rifle, or long-ranged gun, aim at the ceiling and get those turrets down, alright? The rest of us will handle the ground units. And again, we have scientists in here- watch your aim."

"You got it, General."

"Heard you loud, Charmer."

"Hoo-Rah, Blue."

Nora shook her head and rolled her eyes at Piper's quiet enthusiasm to join in- and heard the woman giggle quietly behind her.

"Look, all I'm saying is that the dirt from the Warwick farm is just- look, the results aren't matching up to ours. Are we positive that these are the right samples? And are we positive that the samples didn't get mixed up?"

"Are you accusing me of being sloppy?!"

"What? No, I'm just asking. I understand it could have just been a simple mistake-"

Nora interrupted the conversation as she walked into the room- shotgun drawn forward with a finger locked onto the trigger. She caught the momentary look of confusion the two men shared, before it quickly melted down into utter fear and panic as everyone else flooded into the room with her. Her riflemen immediately began to spread out behind her, and started taking aim at the turrets above them.

"GUARDS!"

The first Synth guard to raise its gun was immediately blown apart by three different weapons.

And a chorus of bullets began to ring out as the turrets along the ceiling began exploding one by one- long before they were even activated to attack.

Nora watched as the scientists stumbled around, before they raced to get out of the room- pushing their way through the Synth guards who stayed behind to cover them. She counted steps and buckshots as she shot her way through the guards, forcing her way towards the front of the wing. A multitude of other bullets echoed out behind her, telling her that everyone was spreading out now- working their way clear around the lab in its entirety.

She watched as more guards began to run in- and found herself impressed with their response time.

"Slow and steady," Preston warned over the roar of gunfire, before he took cover behind one of the planting tables. Most of the Minutemen following him did the same as the new Synth guards began firing at them.

It was loud and getting more and more dangerous as bullets ricocheted all around her.

Nora had to be deathly careful with the spread on her shotgun.

Pressing her shoulder against one of the tables, she kept her head down and breathing steady as laser rounds bounced off around her. She anticipated this. This was only the first step, and it would only get worse from here; they had to survive this in order to get anywhere from this point forward.

"Oh shit! We got company!" Piper called out, as she suddenly scrambled out from her hiding spot- putting herself into the direct line of fire. By some miracle, she somehow avoided taking any shots from the guards, let alone the remaining turrets. Woman always did claim she was damn lucky. "Hairy, four-legged, angry company!"

Nora turned at the odd callout, wondering just what the hell Piper was going on about.

Only to watch as what appeared to be two Silverback gorillas running at them.

Now that was a sight that was rare to see even _before_ the war- let alone two hundred years later.

Two miles underground.

In the Institute.

Nora swore she felt one of the gorillas lock its red eyes onto her and watched as it charged towards her direction. This wasn't exactly a situation she had planned for- let alone even imagined, but she certainly had to think of something for it now. Pushing herself up, Nora ran towards one of the planting stations nearby; she figured it would be sturdy enough to hold the gorilla back just long enough for her to take a shot. It should go down in a buckshot or two, unless it was engineered with metal skin. And bones. And its body was completely impenetrable to bullets.

She barely a few steps out from behind the table she had been using before she felt hot pain spread across her right shoulder. A lucky shot from one of the remaining turrets. The damn thing must've been tracking her- waiting for her to reveal her position. And it damn well got what it wanted.

Stumbling slightly, Nora pushed on and slid behind the planting station- turning just in time to see her previous barricade get smashed into splinters by the gorilla's large fists. She just barely got out of that one.

Pushing herself up, she took aim and fired once; her buckshot peppering the gorilla's thick chest with pellets.

Didn't seem to slow the damn thing down though- if anything, she only managed to successfully piss it off.

It charged towards her once more as she readied a second shot.

Only to watch as a heavy spike impaled itself through the back of the gorilla's neck- killing it instantly. Its hefty body toppled forward, revealing the classic silverback that earned the gorilla it's name.

Nora took the brief still moment to collect her breath, and to realize what had just happened.

She just got attacked by a giant Silverback gorilla in the middle of the Institute.

A synthetic one more than likely- but still!

"You all right there, Charmer?" Desdemona called out to her, reloading her rifle as the last of the laser turrets and Synth guards went down around her.

Her Railroad Heavies had circled around the back and come up from the right side- sandwiching the guards between two lines of fire. There was a slow, settling silence, implying that BioScience would not be getting any more reinforcements for the time being.

Smart move.

For now, the wing was secured in their favor.

"Didn't realize that you were a hunter, Desdemona," Nora spoke, trying to mask the shaking in her voice with a little humor as she pushed herself to her feet. One hand dusted herself off, before she checked on her injured shoulder. Her armor had blocked a majority of the shot, thankfully, but the skin just underneath it had been stripped and then cauterized by the heat of the laser. A little blood, a little pain- nothing new.

Not enough to slow her down anyways.

"I'll be honest. I don't normally shoot large wildlife in my free time," the woman replied.

Nora managed a quiet laugh, before something once more dawned on her. It felt sloppy to ask such a question now, considering that it should've been covered beforehand, but... she had been in such a rush. And while she was knee-deep in rotting ocean water, everyone else was going over last minute plans in Sanctuary. "Where's Deacon at anyways? Did he decide not to come along for the ride?"

"Deacon wanted to wait on the other side and keep things stable from that end," Desdemona answered. "We needed a guy in Sanctuary anyways, so he was needed there- whether he wanted to stay back or not. And before you ask, Dogmeat stayed back with Carrington. Not sure why, or what the old dog sees in the old man, but he didn't budge when I left earlier.

That sounded about right.

For both Deacon and Dogmeat.

Giving the BioScience lab one more look over, Nora watched as everyone slowly came back together and regrouped- looking a little more nervous and on edge now. "Everyone good? We got any injured?" she asked, although she could probably guess the answer. Everyone just shook their heads and muttered out a brief answer. No one looked deathly injured, which was good.

"I might've pissed myself a little back there," Piper replied, giving a nervous laugh as she rubbed at the back of her neck.

"You get used to it," Nora spoke.

"Don't be gross, Blue."

"Well, if there are no further objections... I'd say we're good to keep going forward," Desdemona announced.

Good.

Step one completed.

Onto step two.

Nora followed her Pip-Boy as she made her way forward and into a narrow corridor at the front of the labs. The door at the end seemed to be the only way out of BioScience- which could prove to be... dangerous if there was someone waiting on the other side for them. By some saving grace, the retreating scientists didn't think to lock the door behind them, which was odd; it was something Nora certainly would've done.

Opening the door, she stepped through and into what might be the heart of the Institute.

It was a large atrium-looking place; no doubt the circular structure allowed easy access to all of the wings of the Institute. She could see another wing right across from them- the Advanced Systems wing.

It looked like a scene out of one of those old futuristic movies she used to stay up and watch when she was a kid- always laughing at the gaudiness of the future. And yet, here it was right in front of her. Stark-white floors and tiles that reflect every bit of the bright lights that hung above her. The center of the atrium dipped down into a small circular ring, where a small lounge area resided; the small gardening plots around made it seem a little more natural. There was water running underneath her feet, covered by glass, before it ran towards the gardening area and formed small waterfalls around the center of the atrium.

The sound of quiet, running water was almost soothing when in comparison to the gunfight they had just gotten out of.

How could something like this exist just underneath the feet of the Commonwealth?

...

Any little moment of peace was immediately penetrated by the yelling of scientists and Institute personnel who were still escaping.

And the moment was further ruined by the arrival of more synthetic guards who rushed in to defend them.

"Spread out! Give them multiple targets!" Nora called, as everyone ducked for cover against the pillars nearby. "Railroad go left! Minutemen go right!" They waited for the first wave of laser rounds to end before both factions separated and took off. As far as she could tell, it looked like the corridors would circle back around to one another- which would hopefully pin the Synth guards between two walls of fire.

With hope, all of the personnel would be out of the way before then.

As for her... she preferred to rush down the middle while it was opened- while her men pulled the guards attention to them.

Nora shot her way through the few guards in front of her- feeling heat and metal chassis bouncing off around her with each successful shot. Taking down three of the guards, she ducked behind a nearby wall and crushed a few plants underfoot in doing so. Shaky hands rushed to reload her shotgun, as she ejected her empty stock and hooked it onto her belt, before she grabbed her full one. No sense in tossing the empty stock aside- those things were damn hard to find, and damn expensive to buy. Two was usually all she needed, and even then, they had costed her an arm and a leg to get ahold of.

... About that time, with a mess of packed bullets and grease in her hands, Nora heard the familiar hum of a Courser teleporting in.

Gritting her teeth, she cursed and fumbled to get the stock properly in place before she looked up as the Courser appeared a few feet in front of her. His gun was already locked and aimed on her- and there was no hesitation in his hands.

He got the first shot.

And the bullet struck her in the abdomen, where her armor just barely held together underneath the hefty blow.

She felt the force of it though, and wheezed as the hard shot knocked the air out of her, before a dull sense of pain flooded her lower torso.

But she heard the successful click of her stock snapping into place now, and cocked her gun before she began unloading as many shells as she could into the Courser. She ran the full risk of jamming her shotgun, but right now she needed to be pulling the trigger as quickly as she could. Or at least, faster than him.

Each shot blew away at the Courser's thick, protective uniform.

It took three shots before she managed to break through the material, before she started doing actual damage on the Courser himself. Keeping her back tight against the wall, Nora dug her heels into the soft dirt underneath her as she kept firing until the Synth collapsed in front of her.

Her head and her ears were ringing something righteous.

Her bones ached from being so tense, and her fingers were practically numb- and her stomach was aching something raw too.

... The mess of blood and tissue that laid out before her left a sickening feeling in the pit of her gut.

These were the things that the Institute sent into University Point.

These were the monsters that tore through all of those innocent people- that trapped and shot those settlers to death with no sense of mercy.

Her body ached at the fear that the girl, Jacqueline, must've felt as she remained trapped and alone in that room, listening to the Synths tear through the building.

The guilt of knowing that the Institute was only there because of her.

...

But just the same... Nora thought of Glory, who was no different from these Coursers. All blood and bone the same. All Gen-3 Synths made to look like humans- just so long as they didn't act, nor feel like them. Created for a purpose, but refused the possession of humanity.

Nora thought of H2-22, who was relived, yet terrified at having escaped the Institute- terrified that a Courser would soon be deployed after him. She remembered the look of relief on his face when she spoke to him, when she promised safety, and a better future. When she promised him a sense of humanity, and new life as a human.

Anger mixed with guilt, and for a second, Nora didn't want to be here.

She didn't want to be at the Institute, surrounding by all of this madness.

... Just a second though, and the feeling quickly passed on.

A mere blink of the eye, before she reloaded some extra shells and moved on.

Stepping into the atrium herself, Nora picked off the Synth guards who were too busy shooting at her own men, before she joined Desdemona and Preston to take down the remaining Courser.

So far, so good on clearing the place out.

They had to keep moving forward though- they couldn't risk getting stuck here.

"Hey boss, we got a problem."

Nora stopped as the radio on her belt buzzed to life, before she tugged it free. At the very least, the fight was over with for now, so she could take a few seconds to answer and pray that it wasn't serious. "Don't tell me that, Sturges," she replied, mind racing as to what the issue could be. Did the teleporter fail? Could they not actually get these people out of here?

"I know, but look, I found where the reactor is, and I know you know where it is too... And you know that you'll need to get yourself to the Advanced Systems area in order to get to it," Sturges spoke, before the radio picked up on his hefty sigh. "Well... it's locked. And Tom and I can't override it from here. From what we can see, it looks like that command can only come from the Director's personal terminal. So if you want that reactor, you're gonna need to get access to that terminal somehow and lift the lock."

...

Nora felt her body run cold at the words.

The Director's personal terminal...

 _Shaun's_ personal terminal, he meant.

Was she ready for that? Was she ready to go head-to-head with her own son?

... At this point, she didn't really have a choice anymore. She needed the wing open, she needed that reactor... and she needed to end this. And if she had to look into Shaun's eyes and tell him that she was going to destroy his entire life's work, than so be it.

"I'll get the access," Nora spoke, before she set her radio down- although nervous fingers nearly dropped it instead. It felt like she could feel everyone's eyes drawn to her, no doubt having overheard the conversation... She couldn't bring herself to look back at them; she didn't want to see how they would be looking at her, perceiving her. "Maintain this position until I get back... I'm going to speak with my son."

"Charmer," Desdemona started, her skin flushed from the battle, with the catch of blood on one cheek. "I know there's nothing I can say that will make this easier for you."

"Don't you worry about me," Nora tried to assure, before she looked back to the elevator in the middle of the atrium. It was like the damn thing was waiting for her- calling for her, because it also knew where she would have to go.

With shaky legs, she walked over and stepped inside of it- hearing the faint hum of the cylinder closing around her, before it began to descend.

It felt like her heart and stomach were in her throat as she tried to ignore the solemn looks everyone gave her just before she disappeared.

Everyone knew...

And everyone knew that this could only end one way.

Hitting the bottom of the elevator shaft, Nora found herself traveling down a corridor that was vaguely familiar, before she stepped into a second elevator. And continued her journey downward. The anticipation alone felt like it was choking her- knotting itself in her throat, and squeezing the air out of her heavy lungs. Every second she spent trapped in that elevator felt like death.

Still, she continued onward.

Nora continued on through more familiar corridors, retracing old steps, before she entered the holding room where she had first witnessed the Synth-version of her son. And she felt herself stumble over her own feet at the memory. She felt her chest and throat tighten as her stomach sank into itself.

How cruel it had been to hold him in front of her like that.

To tease and bait her with the false image of her own son...

Nora held onto that hurt, onto that anger, as she headed into the next room and stormed up the staircase to her right.

She expected to find more guards, more Coursers- more panicked scientists at least.

But instead, she just saw him.

She saw Shaun, sitting at his terminal as though he knew that she would come for _it_ , rather than him.

"I didn't expect to see you again."


	8. The Reactor

"Didn't expect to see me alive, you mean," Nora corrected, as she slowly lowered her shotgun, before she eased it over her shoulder and slung it across her back. The weight felt good against her shoulders, but made her hands feel empty- made her feel vulnerable, and yet clean somehow. For just a few minutes, she wouldn't have the residue of gunpowder and death spread across her palms.

She didn't exactly foresee them getting interrupted up here.

Especially since everyone else in the Institute was either too busy running with their tails between their legs, or... too busy getting gunned down in the hallways. Still, it was a little odd that the head of the Institute didn't have any sort of guards standing around. Perhaps he saw no use in it- considering that he knew that she would simply gun her way past them.

"After all, you went through a lot of trouble to have me killed."

Shaun hardly blinked at her appearance, at her arrival. He merely set his lips in a firm line and knitted his hands together in front of him.

"You were a threat," he explained. "As you've clearly proven to me now."

Nora snorted in an attempt to choke back the bitter laugh that tasted like bile at the back of her throat. She crossed her arms tightly across her chest- mostly to keep her now clenched hands from shaking. Adrenaline and emotions were a bad high to get stuck on, especially here of all place. "You tried to _destroy_ the Castle, tried to _kill_ the people of Diamond City, and tried to _obliterate_ the Railroad- but _I'm_ the threat? I'm the _monster_? Have you even _looked_ at yourself, Father?" she spat out his moniker in a mock- despising the way it so much as sounded coming from her tongue.

She came here ready for war- ready to go down in a cloud of blood and bullets if needed be...

She came here ready to fight him on every front she could.

... Even if it boiled down to the loose genetics of family between them.

"You got close though. One of your Coursers nearly blew off my head," she remarked, as fingers pressed to the still raw scar tissue on her right cheek.

Shaun only looked at her for a few moments of silence, before he simply shook his head- acting like some kind of disappointed parent. The irony of it. A heavy sigh escaped him before he leaned back against the desk behind him, bringing notice to the slight stiffness of his body; no doubt a side effect of old age. "So now you plan on what? Destroying the Institute? Destroying everything I have dedicated my life to? Tell me then, _General_ , under what righteous pretense have you justified this atrocity with?"

The words set off like a grenade inside of her.

Blowing up battered fuses and build up emotions and thoughts.

"Atrocity?" Nora carefully repeated- needing a moment alone to realize that he had used that word against her. "This is an atrocity? The people of the Commonwealth finally giving a shit and doing something against the Institute is an atrocity?" her voice was oddly calm, but she could feel the storm of them brewing in her gut- rolling around like rocks inside of her belly. "But you sending your Coursers and Synths to University Point wasn't an atrocity? You sending your Coursers and Synths to gun down an entire settlement of innocent people over a stupid hard disk wasn't an atrocity? You thought it was right, you thought it was _justified_ , to corner an innocent girl and have her gunned down over greed. Can you even begin to understand how scared she must've been? Do you even have any sense of humanity left to realize what you did to her and her people? You sent your metal atrocities there to threaten her, to threaten the whole settlement. You turned them all against her when all she wanted to do was help her father make a decent living in this shithole."

She was trembling now, angry and emotional all over again.

She kept reliving the ache of exploring the remains of University Point all over again. The rumors that had pushed her to the University in the first place- a well known Institute attack that left the Commonwealth in fear of being next. She kept reliving the horrors of stumbling over the skeletons of the previous tenants, of reading the messages left behind, and listening to each horrified holotape.

There was no denying that the Institute had struck heartless and merciless on those people.

Never once even thinking that a simple hard disk wouldn't have been worth nearly twenty lives lost.

"Her name was Jacqueline Spencer," Nora finished. "And she didn't fucking deserve what you did to her."

Her spill seemed to have no affect on the man in front of her.

"The information she had was essential to the Institute's survival-"

"You think I give two damns about your survival?" she interrupted, cutting him off before he could finish what he started. "What about you kidnapping people across the Commonwealth? What about you interrogating them, and then replicating them with Synths? What about you sending that Synth back in their place? What part of you thought that would be okay? That it would acceptable? Did you really think that you weren't hurting anyone? Then again, all you care about is information, details, on how to extend your own living- with no regard to anyone else. Like the Warwick family, right?" she pressed, catching what might've looked to be a hint of surprise in his eyes. "Yeah. I fucking know- and the only reason I haven't done anything about it is because his family loves him. They don't know, and they don't seem to care- apparently he's better than the original Roger Warwick, and he doesn't do much but work with the farm."

"We needed their soil samples to study and improve our own gardens," Shaun spoke. "As well as experiment with different crop growths and strands to get the best out of a single crop. It would've greatly improved the Commonwealth in a few years."

Maybe.

Despite the few times where the Minutemen had struggled to get a decent crop field started at a new settlement, Nora knew they didn't need help. Let alone from the Institute. Let alone from whatever kind of experiments they were running on those soil, or crop samples. Hell, for all she knew, they were making Tinker Tom's worst nightmare come true, and implanting small robots into everyone's food.

"Maybe so- if I hadn't already blown your BioScience labs apart," Nora remarked.

"There were decades worth of valuable work and research in those!" Shaun snapped back in response.

She could feel her jaw tensing now, her teeth gritting together. "Oh sure, let's care about soil samples and crop growths... but not about the fact that sometimes you straight up kill the people you kidnap. If they're lucky. And if they're unlucky, you force them into FEV vats and turn them into Super Mutants that you can study," she bit, catching another, heavier look of surprise on his face. "Yeah, I know about those too. I spoke with your good man, Virgil, who explained it all to me- as if your reputation wasn't bad enough from the start."

"You don't think a working cure for the FEV virus wouldn't be beneficial to the Commonwealth?" Shaun questioned. "You've seen your fair share of combat with the Super Mutants, as have many others. A future without them would mean greater survival for everyone." he paused, and then stiffly continued. "As for our research subjects, we've all made sacrifices for the sake of Science- and we only took the people who were deemed... unproductive towards the future of the Commonwealth."

"You mean, _your_ future of the Commonwealth," Nora retorted. "Your future that consists of robots and murderers- of cybernetic enhancements for killers, and atrocities that can be swept under the rug. All under the guise of being for the _greater_ good."

A hard sigh escaped the man now- a look of exasperation dressing his worn features. "You're not thinking of this logically- and I won't expect you to understand what our mission here could really mean for the surface world. I understand. This business that we do is not clean in all of its practices, but sacrifices have to be made. The end will justify the means in the long run."

"You're missing the point. It's that kind of thinking, that lack of humanity towards people you deem less than you, that got us stuck in this situation in the first place!" she reminded. "It's that kind of thinking that got me shoved into an icebox for two hundred years- losing everyone and everything I have ever known. It's that kind of thinking that has me standing here, right now, having this conversation with you."

She was absolutely shaking now.

Her fingers were clenched so tightly against her palms because she failed to keep them from trembling; she locked up her wrists and elbows, but that only seemed to make the shaking worse.

If she had had her shotgun in her hands, there was no telling what she might've done- something she probably would've regretted.

... But she remembered.

She remembered the world before- she remembered news reports, and daily updates from around the world. She remembered Nate coming home from war, exhausted and tired of fighting- tired of senseless combat that was driving them nowhere. She remembered the riots, the screaming in the streets- the dreams she used to have of waking up in a better place.

She remembered the sirens, the panic.

Watching her whole world explode in front of her eyes.

All for the greater good.

Shaun shook his head now- his expression leveling a look of defeat. "This argument is going nowhere- we both know that. So, mother, you seem destined to ruin humanity's best hope for the future. And I know the only reason you're here is because you need access to my terminal, to open the Advanced Systems wing."

He knew; he had always known.

Nora wondered if he would give in easily, or if he would make her fight him for it.

Would she have to put a bullet in her own son all for her own greater good?

"... I want to execute an evacuation order as well," she spoke, keeping her voice stiff in an attempt to calm it. "I have people manning the teleporter. I'm not like you, I'm not a monster- I want to give these people a chance to live. And I need you to do that for me."

"After everything you've done, why would I? You would be condemning them to death out in the Commonwealth."

"I said I'm not like you," Nora repeated. "I'll look after them, protect them as best I can- give them a new home, a new place to work. This way, they can start directly helping the Commonwealth, rather than doing it the bullshit way." a light pause, and then a hesitant continue. "Maybe you can even take a look at the world you're missing out on, and come to understand why I'm doing this."

Her words seemed to have struck some kind of nerve, or something of the sort, which caused his shoulders to slump slightly downward.

"No, I'm afraid that's... just not possible for me," Shaun replied. "I'm dying anyways, and there's not enough time left to make any good use of it."

Nora felt her body lock up at the confession, but tried not to let it show how his words had rattled her. For a man who spoke so greatly of the future, who had an entire facility at his fingertips, it was hard to imagine him suddenly so fragile, so... vulnerable. So human, in a sense. "From what?" she pressed, unsure if she truly wanted to know what his answer would be.

"Cancer- and a rather aggressive one at that."

She flinched at the response.

... It was the same way her own father had died. A grown man, strong in body from working on farms his whole life; happy and carefree in his marriage, and with his children. He had gotten the diagnosis out of the blue, and then dropped dead two weeks later. It was hardly enough time for a proper goodbye- hell, Nora didn't even have a chance to let the initial news of it sink in before they were putting him in the ground.

So she understood what he meant by not having enough time left to make anything of it.

"I'll issue your evacuation notice and open the Advanced Systems wing... and disable some of the Synths who might remain in your path," he spoke, as he slowly turned back to the terminal behind him; fingers tapping in an access code, which assured her that he intended to keep his word. "Now, just... go, and leave me be."

"... Thank you, Shaun," Nora whispered, before she headed out the door to her left- stepping out into a blinding hallway with a spiraled staircase to her right. It was all connected, and her Pip-Boy pointed her down the stairs- back down to where the others would be.

Maybe she... maybe she should've stayed behind, keep him company just before everything went to hell.

No, no she couldn't afford to have regrets about this now.

She needed... she needed to keep moving forward; all of this was necessary, all of this was needed if she intended to keep the Commonwealth safe. He was just one man amongst the hundreds of murders that had taken place under his rule.

Two hundred years separated them.

... He was hardly her son to begin with.

The stairs echoed her shaky footsteps back to her as she headed downward- one hand loosely on the railing next to her, ready to take cover if needed be. She was so focused on keeping her eyes ahead, on forcing herself to stay focused on the reactor, on blowing it up, she nearly stumbled down the stairs at the static of her radio coming on. Fingers fumbled to get it loose from her belt, managing to get it in her hand just as Sturges' voice came from the other side.

"Alright, good job, boss! Looks like you got things opened up enough for you to reach the reactor now," he spoke.

His voice was almost too cheerful, too energetic for what had just happened, but... she didn't tell him. Didn't tell him who the Director was, and how badly this mission would stick with her for the years to come.

And in the end, it was probably better off that way.

"... I'll be there shortly, keep an eye on any evacuees who are coming your way," Nora replied, before she slung the radio back onto her belt.

Running down the spiraled staircase now, she kept herself breathing through gritted teeth- fighting back angry tears that burned in her eyes. She could still do this- she just couldn't get back to everyone looking, or acting like this. _Pull yourself together!_

Hitting the bottom floor, Nora ducked out the door to her right and found herself back inside the atrium; it was a little... odd knowing that Shaun had only been just a few yards from them, when the elevator ride had felt like she had been descending down into hell itself.

Most of the remaining Synth guards had either been destroyed, or had shut down in the middle of the battle- leaving only a few small skirmishes that was easy for her team to handle.

Her footsteps were heavy as she stepped out, and Nora watched as Piper turned quick on the heels, gun raised and aimed at her chest. It only took a second or two before realization struck the news reporter- and it was all too easy to see how the look of shock and concern overtook her as she lowered her gun.

"Blue..."

"The Advanced Systems is opened. We need to go. Now."

She didn't want to stop and linger on what had been done; she needed to stay focused on what was in front of her- needed to remember why she was here in the first place. She was the General of the Minutemen; it was her duty to protect the Commonwealth, and this was the only way she could do that.

Moving past Piper, Nora hurried across the atrium to the door that read Advanced Systems- where most of her team was gathered. There were a few murmured words behind her, but no one said anything direct- and she was just fine with that.

There was little for her to say anyways.

The door slid open at her touch, and Nora pushed her way into the room- much to the surprise of the scientists who had been hiding inside. She watched as each one of them froze at her break-in, no doubt surprised that they had gotten past the locks. The evacuation alarm that blared overhead was something to take into account as well. This was the real deal; it was over for them- all of them.

And even if the scientists wanted to do something about it, they couldn't; the room was too small, too tight for anyone to do much fighting- let alone even run. And if Nora had been a lesser person, this would've been the ideal situation to gun them all down, to return all the bloodied favors they had given to the Commonwealth.

But she pushed the thought aside as soon as it crept up the back of her neck.

"Why are you doing this?!" one of the scientist demanded- no doubt fueled by enough fear and anger to press her on the matter.

Nora didn't bother answering at first, and moved to step past him, only to stop a few seconds later. It took a moment before she turned back to the man- and she supposed the vacant expression on her face was enough to cause him to flinch. It was enough to cause some of her own people to flinch just the same, and in the corner of her eye, she watched as Preston moved towards her.

She wondered if he was afraid it had been too much for her, that she would snap and really pull her gun on these people.

"You need to get yourself and as many people out of here- you know where the teleporter is... We have people on the other side who will watch after you," Nora started. "And if you have no will to live on the surface, than feel free to stay here and die in the explosion. It makes no difference to me." she paused, before she turned back to her group- carefully eyeing them over before she continued. "Monty, Sergeant Terry, and Sergeant Whitiker, escort these people back to the relay. We're hitting the home stretch here, and I don't want us to get crowded when we hit that reactor. The less people we have to get out of here, the quicker we'll be."

"Yes ma'am," her two Minutemen and one Railroad Heavy nodded.

With that, she continued onward and through the door in front of her.

And straight into the reactor's chamber itself.

The evacuation alarms were blaring loudly in the next room, and the emergency lights that cycled overhead didn't help either; the combination of the two made the narrow corridors nearly painful to run through. Nora tried to keep herself moving in a straight line, but the more she focused on the pain in her eyes and ears, it started to make her a little dizzy. Certainly not something she needed right now.

She managed to make it through three hallways and two rooms though, before she came upon the reactor itself- bathed in a halo of orange lights and protective Synths. They were probably programmed or ordered to stay here no matter what- which was very unfortunate.

Nora positioned herself near the double doors, making sure to stay low and out of sight for now.

"Here we go, people," Desdemona spoke, knelt low on the other side of the door from her. "Let's not get reckless during the last foot of this."

Nora got the impression that the woman was directing the comment towards her- and Desdemona had every right to. "I'll clear a path," she started, as she pulled her shotgun from her back- mainly to emphasize why she would be going in first; she had the only gun with a decent enough spread on it- not to mention, it was loud and explosive. The familiar weight of it in her hands felt good again, and she lightly bounced it in her palms- reminding herself that she had to, and she still could do this. "Just watch my ass while I'm out there, alright?"

"You got it," Piper nodded, as she nervously reloaded her pistol.

"But don't watch it too closely now."

" _Really_ , Blue?"

Nora cracked a brief grin- glad to at least have gotten in one more piece of humor to lighten the mood. If anything, at least they would make for some pretty decent last words should something go wrong here.

Taking a deep breath, she got to her feet and shoved her way through the double doors.

She caught the first Synth in the back, blowing it off of its feet, before she moved on to her next target. There were two more guards to her right, and one to her left- leaving her feeling just a little surrounded. No matter, she had plenty of back-up.

She clipped both of the Synths to her right with one shell, but they were able to duck for cover before she could finish them off. The Synth to her left attempted a back shot, but got displaced by a well-placed Railroad spike to the head. Like she said, she had plenty of good back-up. Counting shells and steps, Nora inched her way into the room- her eyes stuck on the large reactor that hummed quietly in the background.

Her heart was in her throat again.

This was it- this was the end.

This was how it was all going to go down.

"Just get to the reactor," Preston spoke, close behind her as he finished off one of the Synths she had clipped before. She could hear the humming of his laser musket close at her back and felt safe with the heat of it near her. "We got you covered- just plant the charge and be careful."

... She could do that.

Making her way towards the staircase on her right, Nora went up two steps at a time, but stopped as she heard the familiar, rapid clicking of a minigun winding up somewhere close by. Stumbling forward, she hit the stairs just as the first storm of bullets went over her. Hands and feet stumbled to catch a hold on the metallic stairs, before she quickly dragged herself up- trying to stay below the line of bullets above her.

Trying to ignore the fresh, stinging pain that shot across her back.

As well as the warm sensation of blood quickly starting to soak through her uniform.

A minigun in a tight, confided area with little room to run, let alone hide.

She could see where Glory got the idea now.

Dragging herself to the top platform, Nora stayed low on her belly until she heard the sound of the minigun-weilding Synth being gunned down. But she waited until she heard the heavy gun hit the floor before she forced herself to her feet- trying to ignore the pain that now pooled into her lower back and hips. Making her way down the catwalk, she watched as the Synths in front of her were quickly shot down before they could so much as look at her; she really was thankful for that back-up.

The catwalk felt shaky underneath her- either that, or it was her own legs, as she made her way to the reactor. She tried not show any hint that she might've had a bullet or two lodged in her back, but it was getting increasingly difficult to try and walk straight.

Coming up to the control panel, Nora noticed that the security locks on it had been taken down- giving her full access to open the door.

Walking into a live reactor couldn't have been good for health, but she stayed just long enough to stick the pulse charge to it before she ducked out. The weight of the charge now against the reactor only seemed to make her heavier instead.

This was so close to ending.

So close to being over...

Tugging her radio loose, she briefly leaned against the railing next to her for support. "Sturges, I got the pulse charge planted- get us out of here," Nora called, as she looked down to where the others were gathered somewhat below her.

"I got you boss."

* * *

"Alright, the show's almost over, people," Sturges whispered to himself, patting the radio on his chest, before he moved to the computer in front of him. His fingers moved across the keyboard to log in some new coordinates. If he worked his charm right with this fancy equipment, he could use the relay to teleport the General and her team back to this room- which would make it easier on them.

Which would mean that this whole mess would soon be over with.

As far as he knew, they had gotten as many people out of here as they could- or at least, the ones who were willing to leave. A lot of them were angry, but they had little choice in the matter if they wanted to live. He couldn't blame them; they had to be scared out of their minds knowing well that their entire world was about to be blown apart right in front of them.

As far as they knew, they didn't think they were doing anything wrong; the business of the Institute was just normal for them since they weren't the ones getting their hands bloody. They didn't even think about how they were affecting the life on the surface world.

But at the same time, they were about to be a part of it- and they were going to get a big reality check on it.

Sturges could sympathize with them to a small degree; he knew the pain of losing a good thing- of losing one too many homes.

It wasn't easy- and it certainly wasn't going to be easy for them.

...

At the very least, he was glad that they had Glory with her minigun nearby- it kept a lot of the personnel from getting too rowdy.

And she somehow managed to put the escaping Synths at ease, which was nice.

"Ah jeez."

Sturges looked back at Glory's remark, and watched as her face twisted into a slight grimace. Seeing as she was the one keeping an eye on the door, waiting for any more escapees, he didn't exactly like the look. It couldn't have meant good news.

"What is it, G?" Tom questioned.

"It's another kid," she answered, nodding her head forward towards whoever was coming towards them. She sighed and set her minigun down with a brief huff- slightly shaking her arms out afterwards. "No parents that I can see of."

Damn.

He had witnessed one family rush out of here earlier with their twin girls, and that... that had really put the wrench into the old heart works. He didn't like displacing families- although the thought that those girls would grow up in this place, knowing only of this place and it's 'work' was pretty terrifying just the same.

Sturges watched as a blonde-haired kid, probably eleven or twelve, ran in- fully suited in one of the Institute uniforms. Which just... it still didn't look right on a kid; it made them look like little prisoners. The kid didn't seem scared though, which was odd; he didn't really seem all that bothered, or even out of breath either. He just walked into the room, and walked right up to Glory as though he knew her.

"Excuse me, have you seen my mom?"

Double damn.

The kid must've gotten separated from his family in all the chaos.

Sturges could only hope that the kid's parents had already gotten out of here, and weren't stuck somewhere in this place- especially considering that the boss was on her way right now to finish the job. He didn't like the idea that someone willingly left their kid behind, but... he'd prefer that over the other option right now.

"Hey, look, if he got separated, I'll just take him back with me," Sturges quietly spoke, as he stepped away from the computer. "Think you can handle it from here?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry about me," Tom nodded, as he waved him ahead.

"Hey kid, why don't you uh... go ahead and go through the relay, yeah? This place is about to get really messy, and we don't want you caught up in it," Glory spoke, clearly doing her damnedest to speak in a comforting tone.

It didn't seem to work though, as the kid slightly furrowed his brow. "No, I have to wait for my mom- she's looking for me, I know she is," he insisted.

Sturges caught the slight frown on Glory's face, and decided to step in; he didn't figure the Railroad really had all that much experience with kids. "Why don't you tell us your mother's name?" he asked, watching as the kid turned towards him now- and watching as Glory shot him a look of relief. "We might've seen her already, and she might just be waitin' on the other side for ya."

That seemed to do the trick.

"Her name's Nora," the kid answered, before he pointed to himself. "I'm Shaun- I'm her son."

...

One could've heard a pin drop in the room.

Shaun?

The General's son?

The one that she came out all this way to find? She didn't find him anywhere else in the Institute, but the kid managed to figure out his way all the way here? Damned if he didn't have her head on his shoulders.

At the very least, the boss' search was done and over with.

"You're... you're Shaun?" Glory questioned; the look and tone of her voice didn't... well, didn't look, nor sound quite as cheerful as it should've been. But the boss had come to the Railroad for help finding Shaun in the first place- they all knew about her struggle, it was the only reason they were all in the Institute right now. So... why did he get this feeling in his chest that he was missing something?

Something really important.

"Yeah. Have you seen her? Have you seen my mom?"

"Yeah, yeah, we've seen your mom," Sturges started, before he managed to break out a brief grin. "Hell, in fact... she'll be right here in a minute or two." the spot of news seemed to intrigue the kid. "She's been looking all over the place for you, you know? She's gonna be damn happy when she finds out that you found her first."

Before he could get another word in, the relay chamber behind him lit up with its activation light.

"In fact... here she is now."


	9. Greenetech Genetics

Nora felt the teleporter rip them out of the reactor chamber and shoot them back into the relay room.

It was still an unsettling feeling- one she hoped she'd never have to feel again. It left a heavy fluttering sensation in her chest, like her lungs had suddenly shriveled up and the muscles in her chest had pulled in tight; it left her feeling like all the air had been knocked out of her.

At the same time, when she felt her feet hit the floor of the relay chamber, she felt herself get light-headed- felt the room spin slightly around her. She wanted to blame it on the relay, and her sense of discomfort with it- but she knew it was something more.

Knew it had something to do with the warm pool of blood against her back.

The pain had spread down to her hips now, making it difficult to just stand without feeling a dull sense of agony radiating in her spine. It made her limbs feel heavy- made her body overall tired, even though it was surviving on adrenaline alone at this point. Maybe if she had brought a Med-X with her, she would've been in better shape, but... she could still pull this off.

She was still alive after all- still breathing.

This was the last leg of her journey, she had no other choice but to finish it.

"General!"

Nora heard Preston speak behind her, before she felt his hand grab her by the arm suddenly- and realized then she had been leaning pretty heavily to her right. It was only when he pulled her back did she realize that she had actually been in the process of falling over, and would have had he not caught her. He kept a steady hold on her arm, but she could tell he wanted to do more- probably wanted to slip his arm around her just in case. But he didn't know where she had gotten hit at, and didn't want to risk irritating the injury further.

"You're bleeding. Were you hit?" Preston questioned- voice laced with concern as he drew her in close to him, at least offering a little more support that way.

"I'm fine," Nora assured, feeling herself having to hold onto him for momentary balance. Her legs felt fine, a little shaky, but fine- but she felt too top heavy for some reason. It felt like every step forward was a power struggle for balance. Sighing, she let her body have this victory, and slumped in against him for support; she felt the way he hooked his arm across the back of her shoulders instead.

"Are you alright, Charmer?" Desdemona pressed, as she was drawn to the commotion. One of her hands brushed against Nora's arm for a brief moment or two, before she drew it back- trying to avoid crowding her.

"It's nothing, honest," Nora started, doing her damnedest to shift the attention off herself. "I got hit while we were in the reactor- the bullet probably just clipped me, that's it. If it was serious, I wouldn't be walking right now." She wasn't sure if that actually did anything to soothe anyone's troubles, but... she did speak in truth. If the bullet had struck something important, she'd either be dead, or paralyzed; and right now, she was neither. "Look, it's almost over- we're almost done here. Just... let me finish this, okay? After everything that's happened here, I have to do this."

Her words incited a small pocket of silence.

A quiet pocket of conflict, and agreement.

They knew she had to do this, and they knew they couldn't justify standing in her way.

Even if she was pooling blood around her feet.

"We'll get you there," Preston assured, briefly squeezing her shoulders.

Nora smiled and moved one hand to pat at his chest. "Thanks."

"Yeah, don't you worry about it, Blue- after all, I can't stand in the way of my biggest story yet," Piper offered, perhaps in a shaky sense of comfort as she dwelled slightly off to the side. She was concerned, sure, but she didn't want to add another person to the crowd- which Nora was thankful for. And she knew the woman was more concerned than she was letting on, it was just that Piper had a tendency to resort to humor when she was uncomfortable.

Nora laughed quietly in response. "You better start writing right now before you forget the details."

"I got them all up here," she assured, as she gestured to her head. "Just gotta... make sure no one shoots them out."

They shouldn't have to worry about that.

The charge was planted.

The reactor was rigged to blow.

All they had to do was detonate it.

"Uh, boss..."

Nora looked up at the voice, and noticed that both Sturges and Tinker Tom were looking at her in a mix of confusion and concern. Then again, it wasn't like she was making the greatest entrance here. She was partly having to lean on Preston for support, and there was blood dripping off of her- not the best impression to make. Didn't matter though, because they should be at the end of it all. "I'm fine," she repeated again, giving a brief wave of her hand as though to brush the matter aside. "Just get us some place where we can detonate safely- and quick if you can. And get yourselves out of here before then."

Easy said, easy done.

"Actually, Charmer, we got an issue," Glory started.

Those weren't not the words she wanted to hear right now.

If anything, they were the _last_ words she wanted.

"Please don't tell me something went wrong," Nora whispered, more so to herself, before she felt something collide and latch onto her leg. And had Preston not been holding onto her, her leg would've collapsed under the force and taken her down with it. She could feel something clinging to her, and looked down to see a blonde-haired child with his head buried in against her thigh.

And she felt her heart start to sink in her chest.

Did one of the Institute children not get through?

Did his parents leave him behind in the rush?

Did they even notice he was missing?

"Don't leave me here, mom! I want to go with you!"

...

Nora felt her entire body stiffen at the words, unable to process, let alone comprehend them at first, as she stared at the child clinging to her. She felt Preston's arm slightly tighten against her shoulders- no doubt feeling the same kind of shock that she was.

The tension in the room rose high in her chest; thick and suitable to be cut with a knife.

He must've been mistaken; he must've confused her with someone else.

She wasn't... she couldn't be.

She had just condemned her child to death.

But something inside of her ached and throbbed- it had to know; she had to know.

Slowly, Nora moved her hand to the top of the child's head, and gently ran her fingers through his hair. It was blonde, just like hers, and soft too; it was clean and well-manicured, like most of the Institute personnel. Nora felt Preston let her go, as if he knew what she was going to do, what she had to do. Gently pulling the child away from her leg, she knelt down in front of him to get a better look. Her body ached and protested the movement; the muscles in her back strained and spasmed painfully, but she barely paid attention to it.

... He was the same Synth child from before.

The quiet ghost of her own son that she had been chasing this whole time.

 _S9-23._

She had never gotten the chance to get a good look at him. He had either been in a memory bank, or screaming at her from behind a glass wall, or... in a forced shutdown state. It wasn't fair. After everything she had gone through, after everything she had been subjected to, he showed up here- he showed up now. Just as her world was about to collapse for a second time.

But the resemblance was uncanny.

She could see traits of Nate in his face; he had gotten Nate's nose and chin, while he inherited her eyes and lips- as well as hair color. As an infant, it was difficult to tell, and she and Nate had spent those sleepless nights debating on who he would look like more. Nate had been so insistent, so sure that at the very least Shaun would get his chin and jaw- since it was so well-defined and a thing of beauty. It had been humorous to hear him go on and on in a tired charade about how good looking his jaw was, but... at least he could rest comfortably now knowing that he was right about that.

But Shaun was a near spitting image of her.

Or at least, this one was.

Despite it all, Nora managed a weak smile and moved her hands to cup his round face- almost surprised to find his skin warm to the touch. "Do you know just how long I've been looking for you, little man?" she started, voice low and near cracking, before she pulled him in against her, into a tight hug.

She could feel herself shaking, convulsing almost in the strain not to break down. She wanted to scream, and cry, and curse at the universe for everything it had ripped away from her. It had taken everything, and blown the rest to dust and radiation- leaving her nothing behind.

But now she had him.

As small as he was.

And even if he wasn't the real Shaun, he was close enough. Close enough for her to start over on.

"Charmer, if you need to leave with him instead..."

Desdemona's voice pulled her back.

Reminded her of why they were here- reminded her of how close they were to ending this.

She couldn't stop now.

Nora nodded, before she pulled away and moved her hands back to Shaun's face, before she brushed the blonde hair out of it. "Alright, little man, I need you to do something for me, okay?" Shaun nodded. "I need you to stick with Uncle Sturges for now, alright? He's going to get you out of here while I finish up some things around here, okay? I'll meet up with you when this is over."

"Promise?" he pressed.

"... Yeah, I promise," she assured, before she shakily got back to her feet. "Sturges, take him to the Castle for me, will you?" she spoke, watching as the man nodded, before she turned back to Shaun. "Okay, stay close to Sturges alright? He'll get you some place safe, and just maybe, when you get out of here, he'll show you his workbench, and all the tools he works with, yeah?"

She was scrambling for words here.

How was she supposed to tell him that the only world he knew, the only world he had been created into, was about to be blown to hell?

The less he knew, the better.

But she watched as Shaun's eyes lit up at the mention. "Really? Can we build something?"

"Kid, you and me are gonna build anything you want," Sturges assured, before he looked back up to her. "I got the teleporter set up and ready to go. It'll get you to the detonation site, and it'll shoot the rest of us back home. All you gotta do is make sure you hit that detonator, boss. We'll see you on the other side."

She could do this.

It was now or never.

Nora felt Shaun throw his arms around her leg once more, giving her one final hug, before he stepped back and went around the terminal to join Sturges. She mouthed a brief 'thank you' to the man, before she stepped back into the relay chamber with the others.

She watched as Sturges, Tinker Tom, and Glory seemed to be wrapping last minute things up in the relay room. She could only pray for their safe return- as well as for her own at this point.

And she watched as Shaun peeked around the console and offered one last wave.

Nora smiled softly and waved back before everything around her became flooded with a blue light.

...

Before she knew it, the four of them were on the roof of the old Greenetech Genetics building.

The breeze felt good against her skin; it made her realize just how stuffy and stagnant it had been inside of the Institute. How suffocating it had been locked two miles underground with the same, still air coursing through her lungs. It might've been purified and uncontaminated, but... it wasn't the way to live. Sure, there was radiation and danger around every corner on the surface, but there was also beauty in nature, and in the workings of humanity.

Two hundred years later, and this was the world she was brought back into.

She knew she had made the right decision.

"Sturges said this should be a safe distance out of the blast radius," Preston spoke; his voice low, and somewhat hesitant it would seem. She turned her head and watched as he shuffled through his pockets, before he handed the detonator to her. "Whenever you're ready."

Nora took the detonator with a numb hand, before she turned and looked back to where the old C.I.T. ruins stood in the distance. From the rooftop of the Greenetech building, they had an excellent view of the old college- and what would soon be an excellent view of the Institute's destruction. She moved towards the railing and removed the plastic lid over the detonator- staring down at the button that now resided under her hovering thumb.

She thought about what she was about to do.

Nora thought about Shaun, the real one, lying alone miles below the surface- awaiting his own death. He was willing to be the captain that goes down with his ship. But Death would've found him anyways, and at least this way, he'd be able to go down on his own terms.

He had lived by the Institute, and now he would die by it.

She wanted to feel pity for him, but the feeling only churned as regret and guilt in her stomach. He was a man of perfect genes, of perfect DNA, unaffected by radiation and chaos. He had been harvested by the Institute long before he would rule it, and he had supplied them with the means to continue their craft- to expand upon Science and twist it into a would-be dictatorship.

Even he had not seen how his own genes, his own DNA, would betray him in the end.

Cancer had killed the King long before she had even arrived.

... Nora thought back to the day when the bombs dropped. She recalled the alarms blaring over the TV, the panic in Nate's voice as they ran to the Vault, unknowing of their own demise within it. She remembered standing on the platform, feeling it shifting under her feet as it started to descend; she remembered one hand digging into Nate's arm, desperate to remind herself that they had, at least, escaped together.

She could still see the bright lights that stung the corner of her eye as she turned away from it- faintly remembering how you were never supposed to look at a nuclear explosion. And when it was over, she remembered glancing over her raised arm, and seeing the mushroom cloud forming in the distance. It had been horrifying in its own right, and it was an image that she would take to her grave.

Nora wondered if the people who had hit those detonators thought about the world they would destroy. And the inevitable world they would create. If they thought about the people they would kill, bodies eroded into ash within seconds, or if they thought about the people who would survive- damned to be Ghouls two hundred years into the future.

Somehow, she didn't think they did.

They just hit the detonators as a means of winning, as a means of escape. No one would be around to really know who had hit the button, their names would be lost to the radiation and the passing centuries. They got off easy. The rest of the world... not so much.

And now that same situation was in her hands.

And now she would have to make that same decision.

...

She was doing this to protect.

Nora told herself that as she brought her thumb down, and heard the solid click of the detonator going off in her shaky hand.

There were a few seconds of nothing, of disturbed silence.

And then there was a blinding blue light that erupted from the ground, forcing her to use her arm to cover her eyes. Just like before- just like back when the bombs dropped. She felt her body lock up at the memory, afraid that if she looked now, she would see that mushroom cloud. Afraid that she would have to come to terms that she was no better than the people before.

A faint sense of heat scorched at her skin, and she looked over her arm to see a massive cloud of fire erupting upward- consuming what might've been left of the CIT ruins. It was massive, and Nora found herself stuck looking at it as visible seismic waves ran through the surrounding city. She felt the Greenetech building vibrate underneath her, and quickly grabbed at the railing in front of her to keep her balance. She could feel it shaking and vibrating in her bones; she could almost feel her organs shifting around inside of her in response to it.

A few seconds later... it was over.

All of it was gone.

The Institute, the old CIT building, even the city surrounding it had been destroyed.

... Shaun was gone was well.

Crushed under the heel of the Commonwealth.

In its wake, the site was nothing more than a bright-red, burning crater.

It was over.

 _It was over._

Nora felt her legs shaking underneath her, before she weakly clung to the railing with two hands. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight. If she hadn't evacuated all of those people, countless lives would've been on her hands. And even then, she was certain there were a few people who opted to stay behind- and their deaths, their blood was still on her. It reminded her of the Castle- of all of the people she had lost in the wake of the Institute ambush. Her skin was still raw with their blood, with their names still stuck on the tip of her tongue. Stuck in the forgiveness she couldn't give herself.

She wasn't any better than the people from before the war- the people who created this hell pit. Maybe they had comforted themselves knowing that Vault-Tec would provide and take care of some people; all while ignoring that a majority of the people would die with the bombs.

She had gotten most of the Institute personnel out, but she couldn't save everything.

She couldn't even save her own son.

Nora felt her knees finally buckle out from underneath her, before she slowly slid down to the ground- her entire body rocking with the heavy sobs that tore themselves out from her chest.

It was over, but at what cost?

"It's over, Charmer... it's over."

"... Just take me home."


	10. Unto The Castle, Once Again

It would've taken them an hour or more to reach the bottom of the Greenetech building had the elevators not still been operational.

Nora had her doubts that the elevators and the electricity had survived the bombs on their own. It would seem more plausible that someone would had recently come through and fixed them for their own benefit. She didn't bother with questioning who it was, or why they would've done so- after all, there wasn't much to Greenetech that she could see of being use to anyone. Except maybe scrap parts, but it would take a mechanical brain to fix an elevator.

Right now though, all she cared about was that the elevator was working.

And that she didn't have to climb down eight or so flights of stairs just to get _started_ on the long walk home.

It was still late when they finally hit the streets outside though.

They had probably been inside of the Institute for a couple of hours, maybe longer judging by the semi-setting sun on the horizon. Time didn't feel like it even existed in that place- like it didn't exist two miles underground. It was like some kind of black hole where nothing was real. Even now, Nora had a hard time grasping that she had even been in the Institute in the first place. It felt like one of those really bad, surreal dreams that blended the line between reality and deep sleep

... Either way, it was too late for them to get back to the Castle.

The four of them opted to head back to the North Church for the time being, seeing as it was closer, and well secured. Although Nora got the impression that Desdemona just wasn't comfortable sitting out in the open like this, and wanted to get back underground as soon as possible. But with the prospect of a new future in front of them, she wondered if she could eventually warm the Railroad Alpha up to life above ground.

She was certain that the other agents, like Glory and Drummer Boy, would enjoy the fresh air more. But somehow she didn't see Carrington wanting to put a pass on the idea; he hardly seemed like much of a people person to begin with, and an above-ground job only seemed to guarantee more people passing though.

Desdemona would probably get used to the idea though- maybe.

They kept to the common roads for the time being to make traveling faster.

After the recent activity regarding the sudden destruction of the former CIT, Nora doubted anyone would be bothering them. Even the local Raiders probably went venturing out to see what the commotion was, but probably did so without the intent of robbing people along the way. Maybe.

The traveling was still made in mostly silence though.

And after everything they had gone through, it seemed appropriate.

What else was there to talk about anyways? Suddenly talk of the weather, or the recent news on the radio didn't seem so interesting to discuss.

Preston offered to carry her back to the Old North Church, which Nora certainly didn't object to. She had taken a stimpak on the rooftop earlier to get the bleeding back under control, but she was still pretty weak from the lack of adrenaline in her blood now. And the lack of adrenaline was forcing her body to carry the weight of her injury. So needless to say, she wasn't in the best of conditions to travel in- although she supposed she had made due in worst states.

Nora hoisted herself onto his back, letting him hold onto her legs while she draped her arms loosely over his shoulders. It would put them down a gun, but again she didn't foresee anyone bothering them tonight. Although she did let Preston know that if they did get into a gunfight with someone, he had every right to immediately drop her on the ground and get his gun. Which was an idea he didn't seem too keen on doing.

"I would at least make sure you were somewhere safe first," Preston started, keeping his arms firmly hooked underneath her knees as he continued on down the broken street in front of them; Desdemona on his right, and Piper to his left. "And considering that you're General, dropping you would not be a good idea in any situation."

"I'll bounce," Nora assured with a loose wave of her hand, garnering a quiet laugh from Piper, who was nose-deep in her notepad already. She gave a brief sigh and tucked her head against the back of Preston's neck, letting herself go partly limp against him. It felt good to... talk again. She had been quiet the entire time until now, and even she found the silence eating at her; she couldn't imagine how it felt to everyone else. "If I pass out and start snorting, don't hold it against me."

"After the day we've had, Charmer, I think you've earned the right to," Desdemona replied, speaking with a slight smile on the corners of her lips.

"You have clearly never heard her snore before," Preston remarked.

Nora caught herself laughing at the subtle dig- knowing damn well what he was talking about, and where he was coming from. "In my defense, the Castle walls amplify _everything-_ and I had fallen asleep in the common area, which has a lot of open space. I was not actually that loud."

"Ronnie thought it was another Mirelurk Queen coming up the shore."

"I was not _that_ loud!"

It was Piper's laugh that seemed to be the loudest this time around as she hastily began scribbling down in the margin of her notepad. "I'm making a note of this- sorry, Blue, it's just too good to pass up on. Maybe I'll add in a little humor column since everyone wants me to do more light writing anyways."

"After everything I did for you, this is how you repay me," Nora huffed.

It took them a few hours before they ended up running into Glory and Tinker Tom at an old corner bookstore close to the Church. The two had apparently been teleported to Goodneighbor instead, and it had taken them awhile to get on the right foot again. They had apparently opted to stick around to see if Desdemona and them would be coming along this way as well, so they could head back to the Church as one group.

Glory apparently wanted everyone to be there for their grand entrance.

From the corner bookstore, it didn't take them long before they got back to the Church, which was thankfully still standing. Nora wasn't sure why she was so relieved to see the site, but she guessed some part of her had expected to see it blown apart, or torn down. Maybe as one last 'fuck you' from the Institute. But it was still here; it was still standing strong.

It had survived nuclear warfare, and two hundred years of abuse... and now it would continue to live on into a new future.

Glory took them through the winding catacombs, just incase there was someone, or something else down here with them. Her minigun seemed too big for the tight corridors, but she swung it heavily around every corner- letting it scope out the area first, before she followed through. This was clearly not the first time she had done so, but with luck it would be the last.

Preston had to duck low to make sure she didn't run her head along the ceiling, which Nora was extremely grateful for.

"I think I swallowed some skeleton dust," Piper muttered, grimacing slightly as she shielded her mouth and nose with one hand. Her other hand had grabbed onto the back of Preston's jacket, making sure she didn't get lost in the darkness of the winding tunnels. "At least the rent must be great."

Desdemona snorted slightly in response, but Nora swore it sounded like the woman was trying to bite back a laugh. Not that the Railroad Alpha would admit to such a thing- but in her defense, it was a pretty good jab from Piper.

They made it to the catacombs door and pried it open, before they started to file their way down the staircase.

"Dez, Glory, are you two alright?" Drummer Boy started, as he rushed to greet them at the bottom of the stairs. "What was all that commotion? Was that the... was that the Institute?"

"You bet that fine ass it was," Glory called back with a heavy laugh, as she headed down the short staircase. Setting her minigun down on the nearest desk, she grabbed Drummer Boy around the midsection, before she hoisted him off of the ground with ease. "We're back, we're alive, and we were successful!"

Nora laughed slightly at the sight, watching as Glory refused to put the man down despite his insistence.

"Glory, come on!"

"Desdemona, good to see you made it back- alive," Carrington spoke, as he stood up to greet her. And despite the monumental event that had just occurred, he didn't show any outward reaction to it; he kept the same reserved-looking expression.

"Disappointed?" Desdemona questioned, a half-hearted tease, as she clapped her hand on the doctor's shoulder- giving it a brief squeeze and a shake. "Tell me, just how busy are our operations now?"

"We're off the charts already," he answered. "I've been in contact with our men at Sanctuary, as well as all of our other safe houses. They're already trying to get the Synths moved around, but some of them were displaced during the relay process. I've given the agents the go-ahead to scour around for any loose Synths. With hope, we'll find them before anyone else does. Also, High-Rise wants to speak with you when you've got the chance. He insists on getting the go-ahead to move on to a larger building for a larger safe house in anticipation for the newest arrivals. I think he already has his eyes set on a new building, but I told him he'll have to direct the cause to you."

"I'll call him when everyone gets settled in," she nodded, before she gestured back. "Charmer's injured, you need to look at her."

Nora groaned as Preston backed up and carefully set her down onto one of the desks, doing so in a way where she was already seated before he let her go. And she reluctantly let him go herself- frowning at having to support her own weight again. She moved one hand to the back of her aching neck, and tried to ignore how her entire body felt stiff and uncoordinated- no doubt finally hitting that crash after such an adrenaline high; and no doubt that her stimpak had worn off as well. "I know we got pretty smashed the other night, but you think there's still some booze left?" she questioned. "I mean, this is a cause for celebration, when can we start breaking the bottles out?"

"I second that," Glory spoke, finally having released Drummer Boy from her grasp. "In fact, I know where a secret stash is."

"No one breaks out any drinks until I look Charmer over, and pass her off for alcohol consumption," Carrington interrupted, already in the process of grabbing his bag. "She's the one who got us this far, it wouldn't be fair if she were the only one who couldn't drink."

Nora gave a brief laugh. "How very considerate of you, Carrington."

"You're a buzzkill," Glory replied.

Nora ended up settled in a chair seated backwards so she could lean against the cracked back support while Carrington cleaned up her bullet wound. Her armor had been removed and set aside, while her General's uniform was neatly folded next to her. Thankfully she was still wearing her harness attire underneath it, so she wasn't completely naked from the waist up- although everyone still left the room to give her a sense of privacy.

She ended up catching two bullets in the back, but they weren't much else but tissue damage. The duel wounds had bleed out quite a bit, but there was nothing serious that had been struck, or damaged. She got a few stitches, and the promise of some new scars in the future, but that was about it.

She got off with a semi-clean bill of health, and a chipped glass of Bourbon that Desdemona poured for her.

"It feels kind of surreal," Nora started, as she turned the glass around in her hands. "I mean... it's actually over."

Preston was seated on the other side of the desk from her, while Piper had tacked herself onto the end portion of it- giving herself plenty of room for her notepad. And while Carrington had his concerns about the press being involved in their base of operations, Desdemona cleared Piper to stay. Just so long as she didn't write anything about the Railroad- not yet anyways, to which Piper reluctantly agreed. After that, Desdemona and Carrington stepped out into the back tunnel to make some calls to their other safe houses, and get orders officially placed out. Tinker Tom was at his computer, rapidly typing away, more than likely writing down every piece of information he could remember from the Institute; he had probably gotten into more of their files while he was in there. Glory and Drummer Boy were celebrating with PAM in the other room, probably asking her questions and feeding her new information for her algorithms.

They had a hefty situation on their hands.

They had a lot of work ahead of them now, enough to keep them busy for a few years maybe- but that could be said about everyone right now.

The Railroad had plenty of Synths to work with, to take care of and to get out of the Commonwealth.

Meanwhile the Minutemen had the issues with the Institute personnels to deal with. Preston had already called back to Sanctuary for an update, and got the assurance that things were under control. The men stationed there were doing their best to take care of the unwillingly teleported scientists, and trying to get them moved around. They would stay in Sanctuary for the time being until Nora could find safer, more appropriate places for them.

It would be a struggle, but... they could do it.

They would do it; they had to.

"It is a little hard to... process," Preston agreed. "I mean, just a few days ago we were fighting at the Castle, and then Diamond City. And now- now we don't have to worry about attacks like that anymore. We don't have to worry about kidnappings, or Institute ambushes- we don't have to worry about another University Point. The smoke has barely settled, and yet it's already over."

"Exactly," Nora nodded. "Life is now beginning, it seems- and we have a lot of work cut out for us."

"That we do."

"You're telling me," Piper mused, as she flipped through her papers, scribbling in extra notes wherever she could fit them. "This is going to take me weeks to organize and write out something. I mean, I can put out a short letter about the whole ordeal, but these eye-witness accounts are going to take a bit longer. And I still have a few more people I want to interview."

Nora chuckled lightly at Piper's quick assessment of her own work- amazed that the woman was able to get so much done already. "Why don't you just make a book detailing the ordeal?" she suggested. "You'll get more out of it than what you would normally print, and it'll be important to have for years to come."

"Ha, believe me, the idea sounds delightful, but my printing press would decide to give me the big middle finger and die before I could print the first page," she replied.

That old thing had been on the fritz for awhile now- despite Piper's insistence that it was fine, and that it had worked for this long. So it must've finally been heading for the graveyard for the reporter to come out and blatantly say that it would crap out on her.

"I'll get you a new one," Nora offered.

"If you could _find_ a new one, I'll be surprised," Piper remarked.

Nora gave a playful snort and swirled her glass once more. "You're speaking to General Charmer here, Slayer of the Institute, I think I can find you a damn printing press," she insisted- grinning at the laugh she was able to draw from the reporter. "And should I fail in finding one, I'll _make_ you one. Sturges and I could probably whip something up that'll work, and probably be better than what you got now."

"I have no doubts about that," Preston started, before he moved to get to his feet. "I should probably go call Sturges actually, and make sure he's at the Castle, or at least somewhere safe."

Right. They probably should've called first thing, but there were a lot of distractions between then and now. She was pretty certain that Sturges would understand their lack of immediate communication regarding the matter at hand- but still, Nora felt a little guilty for leaving everyone hanging. As of now, no one else really knew where they were, or if they were even still alive.

Not to mention, she had left Shaun with him...

Nora watched as Preston made his way up the staircase and stepped out for a moment.

"So what are the Minutemen going to be up to now?" Piper questioned. "And, more importantly, what about you?"

"Is this my after-battle interview?" Nora replied instead.

"If you want it to be, sure."

Ah, for once the power of the questions was in her hands.

Nora took a brief sip from her glass, before she set it aside- one hand moving to brush over the folded General's uniform next to her. She thought back on everything that had happened the moment she had put the seemingly cursed uniform on. It still smelt like smoke and gunpowder; it was still riddled with patch marks and off-colored stitching. It wore years of history on its sleeves- and today only provided a new patch of history to be sewn into its collar.

"Well, we have a lot of Institute personnel we need to take care of, that we need to find places and jobs for. With their knowledge, they could really help to improve the Commonwealth- should they choose to of course. I'm not in the business of forcing them to do anything they don't want to do; it's bad enough I destroyed everything they had worked their lives for, even if it was for the greater good. But that doesn't change our commitment to the Commonwealth. The Institute may be gone, but we still have plenty of enemies out there. Raiders, Gunners, and Super Mutants still exist, and while they continue to run mayhem, we'll continued to fight them. This is a big step in the right direction for the Commonwealth, but there's still miles ahead of us to go before we can rest our operations."

"You're dedicated, Blue; I think that's why the people trust you so much," Piper mused, making a few notes on the back of her notepad. "And they will definitely love this positive attitude of yours- and considering what you did for Diamond City, I think we can safely say that you're practically a Saint to everyone. I mean, standing up to the Institute is one thing, but actually destroying it? You did what no one else could, Blue."

Nora chuckled lightly at the remark, trying to remain modest, but still feeling an overwhelming sense of pride with herself. "As for me... well, it feels like I'm starting all over again."

She could see the hint of hesitation on Piper's lips. There was no doubt that there had to be a dozen questions on the tip of her tongue, but Piper also had a sense of respect for the given situation. One that out ranked her need for journalism, her need for answers.

"I'm gonna get soft on you here, so you've been warned," Nora continued, deciding to make the decision herself rather than push Piper into it. "I woke up two hundred years in the future with the sole intent of finding who killed my husband, and who took my son. And I did just that- plus a little more. Things... didn't turn out how I wanted them to, and it's going to be a decision that'll haunt me, but I know it was the right one. Shaun was going to die whether I was there or not, whether I pushed that button or not. It doesn't make it any easier, but it's something to remember." Nora paused long enough to finish off the rest of her drink. "I have nothing linking me back to the past, back to before the bombs dropped. And right now, I guess I'm having a hard time wondering if that even happened- if I even existed back then. There's no one else who can confirm it for me; I'm the only one with the memories, with the knowledge. And yet, I can't prove it- I can't prove that it wasn't all just made up in my head. I'm stuck in this perpetual loop of wondering where I really came from, and if any of was real."

"Well, if it's any consolation, I can confirm that you're not from here, Blue."

"Thank you, Piper," Nora spoke, laughing a little at the remark. "It means a lot."

There was truth in her words though. She had lived through the past by remembering Nate, by remembering Shaun... and now that they were both gone, there was very little she could remember now.

Nora looked up at the sound of footsteps, and watched as Desdemona, and Carrington stepped back inside- as well as Glory and Drummer Boy a few seconds later. She didn't know if any of them had heard her, but... she supposed it didn't matter. She was an open book these days; there wasn't much that the Commonwealth didn't know about her.

"Alright, so... PAM says she's already keeping track of any and all Synths in the area," Glory started, giving a brief clap of her hands. "Most of them seem to have been rounded up by our people, or by the Minutemen already, but there are some we'll need to send individual agents out for."

"Already on it," Desdemona spoke. "I gave orders to get some agents out in the field, and High-Rise is setting his crew loose."

"I knew I could always count on that man," Glory grinned, before she briefly shot a glance in Nora's direction. "PAM uh... keeps getting caught up on one specific Synth though. She keeps saying that there's an 'unknown Synthetic anomaly' at the Castle, and she requires time for more information-gathering on it. And look, I really hate to be the one to bring up the elephant in the room here..."

Nora stilled briefly at the words, but was still a little surprised that it had taken anyone this long to bring it up. Then again, they were probably doing so out of respect for her and the situation. This was the Railroad though, and secrets weren't meant to be kept forever.

She gave a brief sigh and leaned back as she propped her forearms against the back of the chair now. "The Institute's gone," Nora started, re-stating the obvious here. "And so is Father, so is Shaun. It's... it's going to sound horrible, but it's closure for me. I know my son is gone now, so I can move on from this point and start anew all over again- which seems to be a reoccurring theme with me." She stopped long enough to take a deep breath, before she continued. "Maybe Shaun saw my expedition fit to be rewarded somehow- after all, I made it this far just to find him. Or maybe he just wanted a redo on his own life. I don't know, and it's too late for me to think that I've might cared about his decision on the matter. None of it matters anymore. Despite the circumstances, despite the truth of the situation here... I have a son that I need to look after- and I have every intentions of doing so."

The words were hard in her throat, but easy on the tongue.

Nora didn't care where that blonde-haired boy came from. All that mattered was that he was here with her now, above ground and as far away from the Institute as he could be. And despite the mayhem, and heartbreak it took to get him, she already felt herself loving him. Maybe it was grief and guilt cultivating into the emotion, or maybe it was the strain of needing a do-over herself...

She swore she was going to protect him.

It was the least she could do for herself, for her pre-war shell.

Desdemona gave a quiet sigh, before she grabbed a glass and poured herself a drink- lifting it slightly above her. "To Charmer."

Nora smiled lightly and raised her own, empty, glass. "To me."

* * *

Nora turned in early that night, but insisted that everyone else celebrate for however long they wanted- after all, they deserved it.

This was the Railroad's victory just as much as it was the Minutemen's, or the Commonwealth's. If anything, it was more for them, and it was a hefty reward for all of the work that they had put into it. It was a kickback for Switchboard, and a final farewell to all of those agents, families and friends alike that they had lost. It was revenge and closure all tied into one. It was something that Desdemona herself deserved; the final nail in the coffin for those who had questioned and doubted her leadership.

It was a gold star for the codename Charmer; a tag that was sure to travel like wildfire across the Commonwealth.

But Nora just wanted to sleep for now, and let the actions of the day slide off of her for a few hours. After all, she would have a long day of traveling tomorrow to get back to the Castle, and resume her duties as General. And there would be, no doubt, more drinking at the Castle- hence why she had insisted on only having one glass for the night. Not to mention, she didn't want to be hungover and miserable when she saw Shaun again tomorrow.

Nora stretched across the worn down mattress, before she rolled over and scooted herself closer to Preston, who had laid down next to her. His duster had been laid across the both of them, allowing her to snuggle underneath the thin warmth it provided. And she had pulled it up over her head to block out the dim lights and give herself just a small blanket of security. "Ever imagine yourself being here?"

"That... is a very broad question," Preston replied, shifting slightly so that she could rest more comfortably against his side.

She chuckled lightly and let herself drape an arm over his chest, feeling him shift his arm down so she could rest her head on his shoulder. "Ever imagine seeing the Institute go down?"

"Imagine it? Sure, I think we all did to an extent. But actually doing it? I don't think anyone could've imagined that," he answered. "Even now, it's like you said- it's surreal. It feels like a damn good dream we're all regrettably going to wake up from."

"Hm, I second that," Nora nodded, as she curled her fingers in his vest, forming a light fist against his chest. She let herself fall into the steady rhythm of his breathing- feeling the way they both moved and breathed in the same succession. For now, she would choose not to question the obvious thing here, and instead let herself fall into the moment- letting herself be lulled by it.

After all of the chaos she had gone through, she really needed an anchor right now.

"How are you feeling?" Preston questioned- quiet, and with a hint of hesitation in his voice.

Nora closed her eyes for a moment, both wanting and not wanting to dwell on the question. "My back hurts, and right now... that's the only pain I want to focus on," she replied, turning her head to bury her face into the wrinkles of his shirt. "It'll take some time, but... don't give up on me."

"Never could."

She smiled again and felt the the way the tips of his fingers trailed up and down her back.

The moment was there, quiet and soft in its own right... only to be punctured by the quickly approaching taps on the concrete floor. Nora groaned and tried to curl herself tighter against him.

"Dogmeat, no-" but the canine had already practically crawled on top of the both of them and settled himself down with a huff.

Preston just laughed and moved one hand to scratch behind Dogmeat's ear; the canine groaned in relaxation before he rested his head where her shoulder was, tucked underneath the duster. "Come on, Dogmeat's family," he teased. "And he was just as involved as anyone else here."

Okay- _maybe_ she would give him that.

* * *

Nora was up and ready to go the next morning before any of the Railroad members had even woken up. And she didn't bother to wake them, knowing well that they deserved their drunken slumber- and they knew she would need to leave anyways.

Still, it was entertaining to see them sprawled out the way they were. Only about half of them had made it to a bed, while the others were strung out in chairs, or on desks. They deserved it though, and Nora could only hope that it was well worth the struggle it took to get to this point.

She scribbled out a brief message on the chalkboard, before she, Preston and Dogmeat quietly left through the escape tunnel and headed on their way.

The travel back to the Castle seemed to take forever in a sense, not matter how quickly she walked, or how many corners she cut to make the journey shorter. All she could think of was returning back to where this had all started. Not just the start of the Institute's fall, but... where her new life really seemed to start- where she found a newfound purpose in this world.

Her new home.

Her new family.

By the time the Castle was even in sight, Nora was leaving Preston behind her with her quicker steps. She hurried through the old surrounding city, and then ran up along the dirt path that lead to Fort Independence, which appeared to slowly be going through some proper repairs for once. The sight of it, broken walls and all, was beautiful to her as she urged her legs to carry her faster.

"Hey! The General's back!"

Nora cracked a grin at the announcement, before she made her way up the slightly sloped path and ducked in through the opened doorway leading into the courtyard. And almost immediately, she walked into near deaf-defying cheers as every person in the courtyard seemed to scream for her. It was hard to ignore how everyone seemed to be waiting for her- eagerly anticipating her triumphant return.

She felt hands reach out to pat her on the back and shoulders, giving her the occasional shake every now and again.

"It's good to see you again, General!"

"We knew you could do it, ma'am!"

Nora felt her chest swell with pride at the comments and congratulations, feeling her throat tighten slightly at the mess of emotions coursing through her. She felt proud of the people she had kept safe, the people she had protected. These people had believed in her, had supported her, and for once it felt she didn't disappoint them in return. Many hands had built the castle around her, and many hands kept it standing.

Her eyes were drawn to the subtle parting of the crowd as Ronnie made her way through it- steady and rigid as she normally moved. It reminded Nora of a shark, or maybe, more appropriately, the way a Mirelurk Queen moved through a crowd of soft shells, all of whom parted themselves out of necessity.

But Nora knew Ronnie would hate it if the woman knew that she had drawn that sort of imagery on her.

"Caught a glimpse of that fancy work you did out there, General," Ronnie spoke. "Seems like you really closed shop on the Institute."

Nora thought back to that night after the Institute siege on the Castle, back to when she was having a breakdown in the corner of the courtyard. She thought about what Ronnie had said then, what Ronnie knew about the situation, and how she had reacted to it. The woman knew what kind of battle Nora was getting herself into in regards to striking back against the Institute- knew about the personal leverage she had against them. Ronnie had been there from the start, almost like Preston had, and while at times the woman didn't seem to be completely on her side, Ronnie never strayed or faltered under her judgement.

"It wasn't just me, Ronnie," Nora corrected, before she raised one arm and made a sweeping motion with it over the crowd around her. "I couldn't have done any of this without the people standing here with me. When I said that the Institute shouldn't rumble with the Minutemen of the Commonwealth, I meant every word of it!"

Cue more cheering, more screaming around her as everyone seemed to celebrate as one- a few hats were even tossed up into the air. Nora laughed at the excitement of it all, remembering a similar scene in regards to the defeat of the Mirelurk Queen- in regards to every new settlement posted on the map. They deserved this.

"Of course, this means we have a lot more work to do," Nora reminded, as the cheering calmed down just a few notches. "But... I think we deserve to celebrate a monumental event just like this one."

After all, who was she to tell these people, who had lived in fear of the Institute the moment they knew of it, that they couldn't celebrate such a long awaited cause? Work could wait one more day, but not too long. She still needed to round up the Institute personnel and get them situated somewhere safe and secure- which, not to say that Sanctuary wasn't. It was just small, and ill-equipped for them; she need some place larger, some place with labs, or something for the scientists to work in. She needed to keep them happy, and safe, just as she promised.

"Before you get stomach deep in liquor, General, there's a kid waiting for you in the armory," Ronnie remarked, already in the process of lighting up a cigarette. "Got a lot of questions, but I'm not gonna ask 'em."

"Thank you, Ronnie," Nora replied, giving a quiet sigh of relief at the words, before she clapped the woman on the shoulder. "It was a hell of a show, Ronnie- you should've seen it."

"That, I have no doubt about, General."

Nora made her way towards the opened armory and quickly slipped inside while the rest of the Castle cheered on and broke out the booze. She could already feel her head throbbing from the alcohol from the night before, even though she only had one glass- then again, there was still the booze from the day before that too. It would take her a few days to detox herself from it, and then it was right back to work.

Stepping into the armory, Nora watched quietly from the doorway as Shaun seemed entertained alone by shuffling through the boxes stacked with assorted junk. Some of it had been stuff she had collected from around the Commonwealth, but most of it had came from the Synths she had killed a few days before. All of it had been hastily thrown around before, but it looked like someone had come through and organized the place- probably Sturges.

Nora smiled as she watched Shaun set aside anything that peaked his interest, adding it to the small pile of junk behind him, before he continued on with his searching.

"Give him a few days in the Commonwealth, and he'll be about as good as you, Boss," Sturges spoke, leaning back against her makeshift work station. "Which, by the way, you've been holding out on me."

"I got it all overnight, believe it or not," Nora replied, before she watched as Shaun twisted around at the sound of her voice. And she smiled at the wide grin he shot her, before he scrambled to his feet and ran over to her. "Hey little man-"

"You came back!"

She felt the child collide with her legs once more, and gently laughed before she ruffled his hair with one hand. "Of course I did. The General always keeps her word," she assured. "I hope you and Sturges here have been keeping out of trouble."

"Sturges said he's going to teach me how to build a turret," Shaun started- prompting Nora to look over towards the handyman with a questioning, maybe borderline dangerous look.

"Hey, I need a break from time to time," Sturges insisted with a brief laugh, holding his hands up in innocence. "Don't worry, I won't let 'im touch the bullets. Besides, you're gonna need someone to replace me if something ever happens."

"Oh, so now suddenly he's your prodigy," Nora teased, before she turned her attention back to Shaun. "Come on, kiddo, we're celebrating outside, you wanna join in?"

"What are you celebrating?" Shaun questioned.

"... A new start on life."

* * *

 **A/N: Probably just one more chapter, an epilogue piece, and I'll be done!**


	11. Epilogue

It was late that night when Nora found herself seated at the Castle radio- or maybe it was early morning, she wasn't too certain.

When she found her fingers tapping nervously next to the 'On-Air' button, wondering when her throat and stomach were going to catch up to one another. Wondering when her mouth was going to stop being so dry, and allow her tongue to speak.

The day had been filled with celebration, and for now, as far as she knew, everyone was mostly passed out in the bunks of the Castle. Or at least well on their way to doing so- a few people were having to be drunkly helped to bed after one too many. It would be a killer headache in the morning, but for now, they were taking advantage of the new future before them- and leaving the crippling days behind.

...

Everyone was asleep.

Everyone but her anyways.

Taking a deep breath, Nora urged her fingers to move once more and switched on the microphone in front of her- giving herself no chance to lose her nerve and turn away. She was faced with her own ultimatum now.

"This is Radio Freedom," she started, using their trademark introduction, "and this is the General speaking to you at this late hour. Normally I'd be afraid that I'm waking someone up, but I have a feeling not many people out there are sleeping. Which you should be- for this is the first night where you can sleep without the threat of the Institute on your mind." Delicate pause to let the words sink in. "I'm certain everyone already knows, but for those who might not, you're hearing it straight from the General's mouth: the Institute is gone. That explosion many of you might've seen, or heard, or felt even, was just that. For those of you in Diamond City a few days ago, who might've overheard me saying that I would take the Institute down to protect the Commonwealth- I hope you see that I made good on that promise."

Nora paused, and chuckled lightly as she heard the faint sound of clapping coming from the corridors of the Castle around her.

Okay, so perhaps not everyone had passed out just yet.

Perhaps some of them were still conscious enough to listen to her.

"But I couldn't have done it without the Minutemen," Nora continued. "I couldn't have done it without the people who went with me, or without the people I left behind." This was the part she had been dreading, and she took a moment to clear her throat- praying it wouldn't crack when she spoke again. "As I'm sure many of you heard, the Castle took a personal hit from the Institute just a few days before, a day before the strike on Diamond City. That personal attack was one of the leading factors for why we buckled down and hunted out the Institute- thanks to some of our silent friends out there for helping us put them on the map. In total, we lost fifteen people in that ambush; fifteen good men and women who did everything they could to protect the Commonwealth, to protect their fellow man. And I'm sure in a couple of years, fifteen is going to sound like such a small number, especially when compared to University Point, or any other settlement that's fallen to the Institute. When compared to the years of peace we'll find without the Institute looking over our shoulders. But right now... fifteen is _big_ ; it's a huge number, a huge loss for the Minutemen, for everyone."

She took another pause, another moment to clear her throat, and get her thoughts back together.

A brief moment to hear the subtle footsteps behind her, before she felt a heavy hand curl over her shoulder. And she didn't have to guess who it was- she already knew. Her fingers were already moving to greet his before they had even settled completely against her.

And she smiled lightly at the reassuring squeeze they gave.

Using the subtle gesture to get through her memories and thoughts.

The thoughts of the fifteen neatly lined up graves in the back of the Castle; each one delicately brushed of debris, and marked with a small, wooden cross. The lack of proper graveyards, of proper burial sites really seemed to be hitting home right now... They needed a proper place to be buried, to be laid to rest- so they would never be forgotten.

And yet, on the same hand, they lived, worked, and died for the Castle; it only seemed appropriate that they would stay here.

The Castle had been a shell of hope and freedom, brought back to life with a guiding touch and once more transformed into the castle that it truly was... Only to be broken back down into a coffin of death and energy burns.

But it would come back- stronger this time.

"All I ask is that we try to remember these people. That we all celebrate the new years to come by remembering and honoring the people who helped to bring it forward, but don't get to see it for themselves."

Nora still battled with the knot in her throat, and leaned away from the microphone just in case something did manage to slip out. This was hard, but she... she had made a promise that she wouldn't forget these people- and that she would make sure that no one else did either. Their names were still written down somewhere in Ronnie's notebook, but she intended to get them written down somewhere bigger- on a plaque or something. She would get Piper to run an article about them, so that those names weren't forgotten.

It was the least she could do as General.

Leaning back forward, Nora drew in a deep breath before she continued. "Many people out there know who I am, the tabloid 'Woman Out of Time'. You know my story, my struggle, why I was out for the Institute to begin with." Another pause, a few more drifted thoughts about Shaun and Nate. "I won't go into detail about what happened, but I will let you know that that chapter of my life is done and over with. I found my closure, and I've made my peace with it. And now... my life in the Commonwealth starts over again."

She stopped to let the words sink in, to let them manifest and come alive- to let them feel alive.

To let them feel true.

"This is Radio Freedom, and this is the General, signing off."

Her fingers cut the microphone and let the station resume playing its usual melody when the mic wasn't active.

Leaning back heavily in her seat, Nora squeezed at Preston's hand once more. "It doesn't feel real." Yet another repeated statement, but still it felt like she was living an out-of-body experience here.

"It'll take some time," he assured. "A lot has happened in a short amount of time, just let it catch up to you."

That felt like good advice- hell, she had no doubts that Preston sure as hell knew what he was talking about. This was probably even more of a disassociated experience with him than it was with her. And he seemed to be pulling it off just fine. And that gave her hope, gave her encouragement that she could too.

"You're right," Nora sighed, before she slowly forced herself to her feet- feeling the heaviness in her limbs as she did so.

Christ, she was more exhausted than she thought; the few days of drinking nothing but water and liquor couldn't have been helping her either though. That on top of lingering overexertion that started at the Castle, and ended at the Institute. And her diet wasn't any better either. Either way, the slight weakness on her feet must've been more apparent than she thought as Nora felt Preston's hand on her once more- carefully steadying her out.

She chuckled lightly at the gesture, thankful for it, before she stepped around the radio host's chair and moved to him; she hooked her arm around his waist and fell heavy against him, tucking her head against his shoulder.

"Let's get some sleep, Cowboy."

* * *

 **A/N: And that's it! Thanks for sticking around everyone! This story turned out double the size I had intended, but it was definitely fun and it was a nice practice exercise for me in terms of character interactions and overall actions. I am glad that it's done though- and I wish that it hadn't taken me so long to finish!**

 **Also, to the guest reviewer who asked about the lack of Brotherhood involvement in the story, I'll be honest, I simply didn't want to write them. It might've been lazy on my behalf, but I really didn't want them to be part of the story's focus. I just wanted to envision what a combined Minutemen-Railroad ending might've been like- and I wanted to give some underrated characters a nice spot of attention.**


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